Scarcity of time for webservices (or why I am not on linkedin)?

Posted on September 19, 2008 / 2 Comments

I am guilty of not being on any of the social networking sites. All the invitations I receive, I designate as junkmail. It’s not luddism, nor incompetence, nor arrogance. Just simple lack of time. Just to deal with my email and tend to this website, I need 26 hours a day. Where am I going to find time for social networking? Knowing my obsessive self, I know that I will start spending more or more time making sure my entries are up to date and project the right message if I get in to this business. Best to stay away altogether.

Now this may seem some maudling trivia that does not belong in a serious website like LIRNEasia. But it is part of a larger and more important question, as shown by the NYT article from which the following excerpt is taken.

““Now, in order to even get the attention of the core group, you have to ask them to replace time or a behavior,” he said.

The future, they said, is in Web services that do not require users to change their behavior by, say, adopting a new service or transferring all their friends’ contacts from one service to another.

One example, said Mr. Kelton, is FriendFeed. It sucks in stuff your friends post on 43 sites, including Flickr, Picasa, Twitter, Digg and YouTube.”

LIRNEasia’s core constituency, the BOP, does not play a big role in webservices. But time and attention are limited irrespective of which SEC group one belongs to. The general question, therefore, is of broad interest.

2 Comments

eranda
September 20, 2008, 9:17 am
At least try to be activated on stumble upon. Good for your blog. As per other networks you require lot of time..Profile building, adding friends and interacting with them..If you do not have time it does not worth it..
SU is the best in a blogger’s perspective…It has done wonders to my blog :-)
DG
September 20, 2008, 5:05 pm
Web 2.0 services encompassing blogging, social networking etc are changing the way a significant portion of the online community communicates. It changes the structure of traditional communication which has predominantly been one-to-one exchange of email. letters, phone conversation…Communication on Facebook for example, recognizes that we are embedded in a social web or network of relationships that provide context to what we do, say, display etc. I believe it is a significant cultural shift and will impact our mode of communication in the coming years.

Based on the nature of your communication, it can even reduce the number of email you send and receive.

Enterprises have realized the power of Web 2.0 services as a tool to connect people with similar interests, capabilities etc. I work in a giant organization with more 100K+ people. The intranet “facebook” is an important tool to figure who is working on the same topic as I am. Or something less mundane, like who in the organization scuba dives!

In your case, think it has also to do with the culture chasm between you and the facebook generation! :) The beauty of social networking is that you can free-ride even if you don’t have the time to post…and nobody will be offended..