More and more, I find myself wondering if people still use certain things, certain websites, that have been around for years, but are hardly a part of my world any longer. Admitting that I ever used these services gives me the connotation of wearing my pants up to my chest and complaining about youngsters on the lawn, but anyway…
AIM was one of the first instant text messengers out there. I stopped using it because all my friends drifted to Yahoo IM, Google Talk, and Skype, and others barely bother with anything more involved than the chat option on Facebook, wishing to install as few accessory programs on one’s system as possible. Thinking back, I haven’t logged into an AIM account for over two years.
Email was one of the earliest ways to contact people online in a more private manner than a public message board. You’re still required to own an email address in order to sign up for various things like Facebook, Twitter, and even domain names and webspace. I’m also noticing more and more that various websites out there who want you to “sign up/sign in” allow you to do so with your authenticated Facebook, as an alternate option to using your email address. I personally don’t have conversations by email anymore, it’s all through instant messengers and, more commonly, Facebook.
Myspace has certainly jumped the shark, with so many other, better organized social networks to play with. Bands no longer advertise their Myspace URL, opting instead for Facebook, Twitter, or their own domain name. It’s funny how it went from being full of people to being mainly full of musicians. At least, as far as I can tell with all the articles I’ve read. I haven’t personally logged into that for a number of years. I don’t even think I could remember the email address with which I signed up for it.
I’m almost ready to add Twitter to the defunct pile. I barely use it anymore in a personal venue–I am happy to subscribe to the profiles of companies who tweet sparingly and with news I am amused by or interested in. However, I am noticing that I am following fewer and fewer humans. And I’m turned off by people who automatically spam their twitter accounts with shortened URLs to existing webpages and articles. “Click here to read about blah on my website.” If I’d wanted to read your website, I would have subscribed to your website. Of course, I do this myself so I’m strangely hypocritical on that one, hehe. I’m also very, very turned off by companies who follow my profile out of the blue. I generally block any account that follows my profile without provocation or action on my part. Don’t call me, I’ll call you. Go work on your Google SEO so that I can find you. Stop using my Twitter profile to sell me stuff. It’s very bad manners, to my perception.
I find it interesting how new technologies, services, and websites have slithered their way into my daily usage, and taken over interest once held by old mainstays. Facebook, which I was resistant to for years because I just couldn’t grok the idea of a shared “wall”, has become one of my main, and sometimes only, common internet destination.
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