Social Networks and Privacy

There's a lot of talk happening right now about social networks, especially Facebook. I agree with the Man in Blue that it is not the site but each one of us are owners of social networks. When I take stock of what I have, this is what I realized:

• My Yahoo Groups allows me to keep my readers informed on what's new in my site.
• Twitter gets me posted on what friends and idols in the blogging community are doing now.
  
• MyBlogLog lets me know what my contacts are reading as it appears on "what's hot in my communities" and what else are they reading through its blog stats.
  
• LinkedIn establishes a permanent connection with the people I've met in various events I participated in, club members, and those who joined my Yahoo Groups.
• I monitor what my relatives and friends are up to through Friendster.

If there's one thing I enjoy about social networks is that it allows you to catch up with people whom you haven't seen for a long time, like what happened to Joh recently. In Facebook, I was surprised to see again one of my students in the APEC E-Biz Training for Women SMEs two years ago, Sarah Benjamin, site owner of Simply Rose Petals.

So I guess the idea of having an ultimate social network where all of these are in may be nice but I'm a little against it as well. For one, I support the idea of segmentation. There are just some stuff that you can't mix and best that they are separated. An entity having full vision of your Internet life may not be so great. We have to remind our kids also from pouring their heart out online or even inventing stories online using these sites as that may get them into trouble later on.

Will Twitter replace Yahoo Groups?

When I started using Twitter last April, it was a tool that I never took seriously. Upon reaching 100 followers today, I've realized the following:

• Twitter serves as a virtual chat room where you can post messages that can be viewed by everyone or addressed to friends that can be seen by mutual contacts.
• Use Twitter to disseminate job openings, new blog posts, and interesting articles. This has affected my Yahoo Groups usage drastically and am now considering inviting my subscribers to use it. The only dilemma is that I won't be able to view their messages to me unless I follow or track them too. That is not an easy task if all of them will join.
  
• Used Twitter as a means to remind people on developments regarding the Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs and the Filipina Writing Project.
• Whenever I encounter online disappointments, I have a need to rant a little. Posting two messages in Twitter was enough to let it out.
  
• However, when these disappointments became big issues later on, Twitter became a means to clarify concerns and information asked by contacts.
  
• When there's tension between two Twitter users, breaking the follow connection is always a great relief and avoid any possible misinterpretation of messages.
• The more I used it, I felt an indirect closer connection as I get to know the people I follow better. I guess the same can be said vice versa. Aileen Apolo's unplanned YM conference birthday celebration last night would not be possible (for me to join) if not for Twitter.
• Unexpectedly, Twitter can also allow contacts to get to know people's perspective on issues.
  

Although there are now other services popping in the market that is similar to Twitter, I find it hard to use another one as updating it won't be easy. So is Twitter the new Yahoo Groups? If you are using it to disseminate updates, like I do, probably it will be.