Ok, I would like to say, my first attempt at the social media world was Twitter. I liked that it gave me away to update the world on what I was up to without writing a huge blog post, but it was very limited, and eventually I got frustrated and left it behind.
My second time in was Google Buzz. Immediately when I got into buzz I noticed two things: One it had way fewer limitations, and Two it integrated seamlessly into my existing lifestyle because I already use Gmail, Blogger, Picasa, YouTube, and many other Google services. I immediately found some of my friends though my Gmail contacts, and then found a few that they chatted with. Gmail also was built in as the private messaging system for Buzz though a robust email service, and Gtalk integration was a nice bonus.
I was happy with this, and probably wouldn't have done anything else, but Kindy talked me into joining Facebook. As you all know Facebook is the king of Social media. They have chat, private messaging, they invented the wall, and also have integration into many services. It was powerful, it was clean, it was boring.
Seriously, I learned there was one thing about Facebook I truly hated, it's bland boring 1990's style web page. It was possibly the ugliest thing I have seen on the internet in a long time. Even Twitter allowed you to add a custom background, but this was just white and blue.
To add insult to injury, it was harder to find my friends on FB. See unlike Buzz where I could look through my contacts, FB had no such robust feature set, it's friend finder was powerful, but it didn't help me find the people I wanted to find, so in the end it was useless.
FB also has games, which at first seem really cool, but I quickly learned they were more of a nuisance than fun. I get tired of 95% of my news feed being about what my friends and family are doing on Farmville. And the Integration into my Google services are weaker than Buzz.
Now I find myself back to Buzz mostly, I still do some stuff on my FB, but I find Buzz is easier, more robust, MORE social, and just friendlier. I can more easily control who sees my posts, and who doesn't, I can choose whether a Follower gets into my chat contacts, and same with other buzz users. It essentially allows me to control my privacy better than I would normally be able to.
The truth is I suspect I am not the only one. Buzz is more private and closed to my friends. I can control who sees what, and I can feel more like I am in a tight circle of friends, and less like I am on public display in a crowd on people, trying to find someone I know.
It will take a while, but I think that Buzz will in the end win out over Facebook.
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