I know that facebook, myspace, twitter and any other “networking sites” like that are extremely popular in America.
“Networking sites” (or “profile sites”) are popular in Japan. But different websites…the most popular one in Japan is mixi (many Japanese people access the site via their cell-phone rather than a computer).
I’ve never used any of those sites.
I can’t understand the appeal.
People make an account and then write extremely short, trivial posts (especially on twitter).
I think when people have a blog, they write more interesting, thought-out posts rather than one sentence blurbs like what’s common on those “networking sites”.
And users of those sites commonly have hundreds of “friends”…but how many of those people do they actually know and contact?
I originally started this blog as a way to keep in contact with my friends and family in America…but most of them never (or seldom) visit my blog. They almost all use facebook.
So I decided to open my own facebook account so that I could see their photos and comments.
I never use my facebook page. I only have it so I can access my friends and relatives’ pages.
Their pages don’t have much in the way of “posts”…instead they’re covered in icons about “Mafia Wars” and “lost cows”.
I assume it’s some type of game.
I’m not putting down anyone who enjoys those websites. There seems to be legions of people who do.
But I don’t “get it”.
Do you enjoy those “networking sites”? Why? What am I not seeing?
Tokyo Five 
I only recently joined facebook, and while I’m glad I did, I don’t spend a lot of time on there. The reason I’m glad is because I’ve reconnected with many people I went to school with, old friends I lost touch with, and old co-workers, including one who had a massive heart attack earlier this year. Some of my co-workers are always on facebook. I have found out about parties they’re holding, though I haven’t gone to any. And yes, I’ve played a couple games, but not much at all. I keep personal matters off of facebook, but have chatted with some people. I also prefer blogs. They’re so much more interesting.
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Well, that’s good that you could find old friends.
>blogs…so much more interesting.
I agree.
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I with you on this one.
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You don’t use networking sites either?
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Oh and also please dont ever change your blog, I find your blog very informative and interesting to read hence (although i rarely comment nowadays) its categorised as my daily dose of good blogs to read
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Thank you very much.
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To me blogging is a whole lot better than twittering 😉 Blogging has extended a new bridge of friendship for me and the same goes for the use of the world wide web. I have a Facebook account and I use this a whole lot more than the other networking sites ONLY because ive got my family and friends on this site. Those mafia and farm town applications are games and that tends to consume alot of one’s time and addictive as I realised (a wee bit late) with Cafe World but anyway to me its the fact that I can connect with my family here rather than my blog is better but also I got to get in touch with old school friends and make new friends at the same time. There are the pluses and minuses of Facebook. A few pluses but lots of minuses really.
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I see.
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You says exactly what I’m thinking.
I’ve never joined facebook or twitter. I wonder if people over 40 years old join there so many? I assume it’s a new device for young people. I had not had any such kind of communication tools when I was young, but some of my friends used to be addictive to a beeper. I don’t think I would use facebook or other these kind of sites, if I were teenager now. As Mike says, it would consume your time so much, I guess. The sentences are short but, ‘frequency'(if this word is proper..) is extremely active.
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I feel the same way.
Maybe people our generation are different in Japan from people our age in other countries. 😉
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I don’t play any of the “games” on Facebook. They are meant as ‘social’ games, which means they are designed so that you need your Fscebook friends to participate in order to succeed in the games.
I’m mostly interested in keeping in touch with friends and family.
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Those games seem really popular, though.
I’ve never played an online game at all.
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Like some of the other commenters, I’ve found that Facebook is very useful for keeping up with friends and relatives, and reconnecting with people in my past. Especially as more people around my age (47) are joining.
Examples: I started a page for my grammar school that now has over 250 members and a growing number of old class pictures that have been scanned and posted.
Sure some friends are mainly doing Mafia Wars or something else that I may not be into. But it’s very cool to see one of my friends’ pictures when they travel, to say hi by commenting on something, etc.
I blog but only a few of my friends do. I don’t expect many of them to read my blog anyway, so I don’t consider blogging really an interactive way of staying in touch with people.
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I only have maintained contact with two friends from America after all these years.
I haven’t spoken to other friends from my childhood in so many years that if I did suddenly have contact with them, I wouldn’t know what to say.
Almost all of my friends are Japanese now (simply because I live in Japan)…and we talk in person, not via a website.
So, I don’t see much need for facebook to me.
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I use Facebook and as other comments above have indicated, it keeps me connected with friends, collegues and family, mainly in Canada, my home country, while we are here living and working in Japan.
Mainly, I use it to post pictures. Of course, I could also use many other sites such Flcker (as shibuya246 does), ShutterFly, etc., but I like Facebook’s security control (only my confirmed friends can see my picture albums). I have had many comments from people that they enjoy viewing my picture albums.
There are many other features, especially application, which add to the richness of Facebook, but also creates a distraction and complexity. Personally, I do not use any applications (I am concerned about security) and just ignore them when I get them from people (such as Mafia Wars, which is very popular), I also ignore all the ads on the site.
I also use Twitter, and shibuya246 is one of those that I follow. I don’t tweet often, maybe only every other day. I found it to be a duplicate Facebook’s status function.
I think everyone uses social networking differently so it is really a personal preference – bottom line is another method of networking, virtually instead of face-to-face (both have their place today and both should be used).
Anyway, just my 2 yen worth …
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I see. Thanks for that well-worded explanation.
I guess those networking sites such don’t appeal to me personally. Maybe I’m in the minority, though.
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I’m both with and against you on this one, my head says “Yes, you’re right, it is such a waste of time” but my actions beg to differ, because I use facebook on such a regular basis. Although I use it less and less now, and I’ve just started my blog up (feel free to give me some pointers for improvement by the way) and I find myself thinking “Wow, facebook posts are pretty pointless when I never actually end up expressing myself properly nor using it to keep in contact with people in a less superficial manner than the occasional joke between friends on a photo or status update etc.”
Oh and please don’t change your blog to suit “Niknak”, your blog is excellent and is very informative about many things in Japan I probably wouldn’t find out about otherwise.
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>I’ve just started my blog up (feel free to give me some pointers for improvement by the way)
As long as you update often and write in your own style, I’m sure it’ll be popular.
>the occasional joke between friends on a photo or status update etc.
That’s all it seems to me that is on facebook too.
>please don’t change your blog to suit “Niknak”
I didn’t actually think he was offering me constructive criticism. His comment was kinda mean, so my reply was sarcastic.
>your blog is excellent and is very informative about many things in Japan I probably wouldn’t find out about otherwise.
Well, thanks.
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I don’t have time for those sites anymore. They take up a lot of time.
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Really? The short posts and comments that I’ve seen on those sites don’t seem very time consuming.
By the way, I looked at your site.
You like ’90s music? Were you a teenager in the ’90s?
I was a teenager in the ’80s…so I prefer ’80s heavy metal.
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Yeah, I use facebook everyday and I find that it has been particularly useful for keeping in touch with my friends. It was very useful whilst I was still in Japan because although I used to update my blog regularly most of my friends wouldnt visit it, instead we kept in touch using messages over Facebook. I have to admit though, that facebook has gotten out of hand- originally it was just a useful way for keeping in touch with friends but now there are a lot of games, quizes, useless applications, etc all of which are just a waste of time. Another good thing about facebook though is sharing photographs with friends, when you post photos you can tag them so that whichever friends are in the photo get the photos on their profile also, I think myspace and other websites may have started to use this tag function also though.
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>I find that it has been particularly useful for keeping in touch with my friends.
Well, that’s good. I guess that’s it’s intended purpose.
>in Japan because although I used to update my blog regularly most of my friends wouldnt visit it
I had the same situation. The earliest posts on my blog were aimed at my friends and relatives in America to tell them what we were up to here…they seldom visit my blog though, but I get many other visitors daily, so I changed the focus of my posts.
Since my friends in America use facebook, I check it occasionally and write something.
But I don’t understand why that site’s so popular…email is better, in my opinion.
>Another good thing about facebook though is sharing photographs with friends
I have never put my photos on facebook, flickr, etc.
I sometimes attach photos to emails that I send to friends and relatives in America.
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I don’t use Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter. Just can’t be bothered.
If you have been reading my blog faithfully for the past few months, you will have seen photos of my blog parties. Yes, I have invited fellow bloggers to my home for lunch. I like these friends a lot. Blogging has opened a whole new world for me.
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I have seen your posts about your parties.
It seems like you have many friends in Hawaii who also blog.
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I am a Facebook junkie.
Facebook has allowed me to re-engage relationships with old friends I haven’t spoken with in years. After college most of us moved away to different locations and just lost contact.
Facebook has allowed us to “talk” on a regular basis, share what’s going on with our lives, cheer eachother up, encourage, etc.
To me it has given the ability to have a daily relationship with friends I could normally never see or hear from. (Except maybe once or twice a year on the phone.)
Now, I do have about 300 Facebook “friends”…but most of those I hardly communicate with. There are about 10 people that I have truly rekindled friendships with and we “talk” to eachother a few times each week.
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I guess that’s what it was made for.
But what I’ve seen of those types of sites isn’t like that.
Also, I’m probably paranoid, but I don’t like putting my real name on the internet.
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I think Twitter can be useful to let people know you have updated something on your blog that needs more than 140 words to tell the story.
Once the discussion starts on Twitter about your blog post it might go to the comment section of your blog, or it might get a quick bite size remark on Twitter. Either way the communication process is rolling.
Facebook, I have no idea. With over 300 million users (is that the figure?) something must be happening, but i cant figure out what.
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I see.
But, personally, I don’t send or receive “Twitter” messages.
I use the WordPress program that tells me when blogs I like have been updated.
Anyways, I looked at your blog.
You take nice photos!
And you’ve been living in Shibuya, Tokyo for 20 years. We came to Tokyo around the same time, then.
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your just under the illusion that people actually want to hear you ramble on about your worthless opinions when it is far easier to disregard morons such as yourself in small bit-sized chunks of idiocy.
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Thank you for your constructive criticism!
So if I wrote short, one-sentence posts you’d like my site more?
I’ll take it under consideration.
As for me, I still like to visit other people’s blogs rather than a facebook page.
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I’m with you on this. I use Facebook just to keep up with people, but I’m tired of reading about FarmTown.
I have many other issues with Facebook too, so I don’t do much with it.
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>I’m with you on this. I use Facebook just to keep up with people
How about the other sites? What do you think of MySpace, Twitter, etc?
I think they’re just as pointless, personally.
>but I’m tired of reading about FarmTown.
It’s a game, isn’t it?
>I have many other issues with Facebook too
What, for example? (I’m just curious because I don’t know much about those sites).
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>>I’m with you on this. I use Facebook just to keep up with people
>How about the other sites? What do you think of MySpace, Twitter, etc?
I think they’re just as pointless, personally.
I use Twitter some. Twitter is the new RSS. It’s a way for me to keep up with blogs I read mostly.
>>but I’m tired of reading about FarmTown.
>It’s a game, isn’t it?
It’s a game. I don’t get it though.
>>I have many other issues with Facebook too
>What, for example? (I’m just curious because I don’t know much about those sites).
Facebook seems like a popularity contest.
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>Facebook seems like a popularity contest.
I thought so too.
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