1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (No Ratings Yet)
Loading ... Loading ...

Engineers’ embrace (or lack thereof ) of social media

This video was posted on Monday, March 2nd, 2009 and filed under Discussions, Videos.

As I write this, I am having to ignore the constant urge to log into facebook and respond to a message from my facebook-friend, Mike. Not because I barely know Mike (he sat next to me on a flight once), but I am worried that logging into facebook for the sole purpose of checking an email might result into hours of purposeless activities. These activities, poking, super-poking, kissing, hugs, superhugs, are just some of the aps(activities) my weirdly-overly-social friends have been forced into adding into my account. And every time I added these purposeless features, I kept wondering how Facebook could be so convincing in making millions of people believe that this is the new form of socializing, “through which we use technology to get to know and interact with people”.

So, I am led to ask once again,
  1. How much time is wasted on Facebook that would otherwise be spent in other productive means?
  2. How come there is no application within Facebook that provides a learning, or thought-provoking experience?
  3. What will become of this Facebook-generation? (3+ hours per day)
I would be interested in hearing your opinions on this topic.

You might also like the following:

  1. Social Networking for engineers In an attempt to open a forum for discussion on social networking for engineers, this...
  2. 10 ways social networking can impact your business and career as a civil engineering professional A guide pointing out the various benefits of using social networks as a means of...
  3. To Tweet or not to Tweet A discussion on the new rapidly growing micro-blogging platform, Twitter. What is the purpose and...
  4. CivilEngineering Central 2.0 CivilEngineering Central.com further enhances its presence on the Internet in order to further reach out...

Posted by Ken.Kabaki on Mar 2nd, 2009 and filed under Discussions, Videos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response by filling following comment form or trackback to this entry from your site

3 Responses for “Engineers’ embrace (or lack thereof ) of social media”

  1. Khalid says:
    April 30, 2009 at 2:01 pm

    I initially joined facebook on my friends’ insisting that it was the best thing since sliced bread! Within a few days I realized it’s a complete waste of time — at least for me. May be it’s just me, but why would I like to know who has broken up with someone or is cooking dinner now?

    I surely have better things to do.

    Reply
  2. Gil Ramirez says:
    March 8, 2009 at 7:03 pm

    Isn’t looking for a learning or thought provoking experience app in facebook similar to seeking tofu, protein enriched, no -fat, no-sugar ice cream?

    For me Facebook and Myspace are merely ways to keep in contact with friends and family. All the fluffy apps are indeed a distraction (like sprinkles on ice cream, do they actually taste like anything?) So don’t bother with them. I like mass messaging my family to let them know I want to get together from time to time, or changing my status to let them know how I’m doing.

    Sharing pictures, public blogging, are fun from time to time, but are chocolate syrup, strictly speaking, not required!

    Reply
    • admin says:
      March 9, 2009 at 12:18 am

      Thank you for commenting Gil.
      My view of facebook is that it ought to be a medium through which (in addition to socializing) we can also use for meaningful and productive purposes. I feel that when you have such high numbers of young minds visiting a website religiously, you ought to make it possible for them to better themselves in a certain way.
      While facebook is a great tool for keeping up with family and friends, it is entirely useless in other regards. Unfortunately, way too much time is spent on facebook.
      Ken

      Reply

Leave a Reply