The Dreaded Spacebook

"Insert Horror Movie Theme Song Here"

Nope. Not doing it. Never happening. I don't care if I'm writing a blog about trying out social networking accounts and that Facebook is the biggest of these sites. I refuse to join.

I have always been wary of Facebook... I never quite understood it. I didn't understand why it was absolutely essential for me to make an online account to talk to and keep up with people that I see every day at school anyway. It didn't take long for me to realize that not having a Facebook meant carrying a certain social stigma, especially when meeting people for the first time. People just thought it was weird. Certain types of people expected me to explain myself.

There were points in my life where this actually had a marked impact on me, as insignificant as it may seem. My randomly placed freshman year roommate thought I was some sort of psychopath... despite the fact that I had emailed, texted, and talked to her on the phone just like any other normal human being would. She admitted that it was because I didn't have a Facebook. I've even heard people say, "if you don't have a Facebook, you pretty much don't exist."

I think that this is the root of why I won't make one. I don't like that I'm being told that I have to do something that seems unimportant to me to "fit in". I'm stubborn (or so my horoscope says if you believe in that sort of thing). But also, I don't see a Facebook account contributing to my life in any positive way. It would just be one more thing for me to use to procrastinate. I would just end up playing mindless farm games or stalking my ex-boyfriend picking up other self-destructive habits. Even though I suppose it would make it easier to keep up with friends, I don't think it's at all essential. After all, I've gone this long without it.

So I guess what I want to know is this: why is it so weird? Please, help me understand. What is it about someone not being on Facebook that's so perturbing?  Could it be curiosity... some undying need to know a person's life before you get to know the person? If so, why not just ask?

YouTube

My Favorite Way to Procrastinate

YouTube was created in 2005 by former PayPal employees and has been owned by Google since 2006. Although technically just a video sharing site, I am considering YouTube a social network because of the ability to like and rate videos, subscribe to and communicate with other users, and post comments on content.

Let me just say this: I love YouTube and I have for years. I didn't think I could love YouTube more until I did my week-long test run of an account. I found that certain account features such as being able to save videos to my favorites, subscribe to users, and make playlists did nothing but enhance the use of this website. These features made the site easier to use and allowed me to find content that I enjoy much more easily and then save this content so that I could find it again.

My one problem with YouTube is that under Google's "One account. All of Google." mantra you are actually required to have a Google+ account to comment on videos so (since I'm not keeping my Google+ account) I won't be able to participate in this aspect of the site.

Because of YouTube's array of videos, its uses are endless. You can use it for music and other entertainment, beauty tips and tutorials, news, and (most importantly) education. I can honestly say that I probably would not have passed Organic Chemistry I without the multitude of instructional videos uploaded to YouTube. I like YouTube socially because I know a lot of people that have accounts so I can see what kinds of things that they like and share videos with them.

Will I keep it?
Absolutely.

Google+

Google Gets in on the Game

Originally created in 2011 as invitation only, Google+ has grown to become the one of the most used social networking sites on the internet. I have been prompted to make a Google+ account many times when visiting Google affiliated sites (including this one), so I decided to make Google+ the first social networking site I tried.

After spending about a week perusing Google+, I have nothing but positive feedback concerning the layout and ease of use of the site. I got over the initial awkwardness of figuring out a new interface during my first time on the page. It was easy to figure out how to search for friends and family and then organize them into "circles" which makes updates easy to digest. I also enjoyed that I could search for "communities" to join based on personal interests and that posts from these "communities" would show up on my homepage so I had something new and cool to look at every time I logged in.

One aspect of Google+ that I appreciated that fell outside of the social realm was the "Local" page. I could use this to search nearby shops or restaurants and read and share reviews of these places. I also see potential use for this site as a photo storage site in case I ever lose files.

Will I keep it?
Even though I really liked the site, I am not going to continue to use it for the simple fact that it doesn't hold much social use for me. Most of my friends and family are not actively using the site, even if they do have an account.

Welcome to A Technophobe's Experiment with Social Networking!

My name is Krista and I’m a 20 year old biology major at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. I’m pretty much a typical student except for one thing: while most of my peers have accounts with several social networking sites, I don’t have any. In the past, I had always viewed the social aspect of the internet negatively, stubbornly refusing to give social networking a chance. However, I now know that such sites offer a range of benefits from connecting with old friends to meeting prospective employers.

Since writing this blog as a class assignment has pushed me into the world of the internet a bit, I figured that now would be the perfect time to expand my horizons and try to find a site that suits me. I will be documenting my efforts through this blog. For each post I will test out a different social networking site by examining how easy it is to maneuver, researching possible uses for it outside of the social realm, and ultimately determine whether or not I’ll keep the profile or delete it.