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What advantage does Facebook have over NNTP?

solletica

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Seems like you could easily set up a social network system by just running a server that implements NNTP in such a way that anyone can create their own groups on demand and restrict membership to specific users. Users could then post view/pics, music files, videos, etc. to any of these "news" groups (now functioning as social groups), and a cloud agent (affiliated w/a cloud data service) could then keep track of all content (message, photos, etc.), with the NNTP groups' URLs (and uname, passwd) being added as just another source to be tracked by the cloud service.

IMHO, this is better than FB because users could use any email/news client they wanted (instead of a dedicated social network client restricted to a single service), and the media organizing tool (cloud service) is separated from the social network tool to allow all private media to be organized, instead of just the pics, videos, etc. that have been shared on the social network. Furthermore, most email clients already have exceptional address/contact organizing tools.

Am I missing something, or this just not as sexy as FB ?
 
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Seems like you could easily set up a social network system by just running a server that implements NNTP in such a way that anyone can create their own groups on demand and restrict membership to specific users. Users could then post view/pics, music files, videos, etc. to any of these "news" groups (now functioning as social groups), and a cloud agent (affiliated w/a cloud data service) could then keep track of all content (message, photos, etc.), with the NNTP groups' URLs (and uname, passwd) being added as just another source to be tracked by the cloud service.

IMHO, this is better than FB because users could use any email/news client they wanted (instead of a dedicated social network client restricted to a single service), and the media organizing tool (cloud service) is separated from the social network tool to allow all private media to be organized, instead of just the pics, videos, etc. that have been shared on the social network. Furthermore, most email clients already have exceptional address/contact organizing tools.

Am I missing something, or this just not as sexy as FB ?

Facebook has a billion people on it and I do not need to exert any effort recruiting friends or making any adjustments whatsoever. All value is derived from the userbase and ease of use. Facebook, Gchat, etc hit all of those fantastically.
 
Facebook has a billion people on it and I do not need to exert any effort recruiting friends or making any adjustments whatsoever. All value is derived from the userbase and ease of use. Facebook, Gchat, etc hit all of those fantastically.

IIRC it's now 1.5 billion!

Really the only thing I don't like about FB is the phishing, adverts and lack of support (someone to converse with if there's an issue) Other than that :)
 
Facebook has a billion people on it and I do not need to exert any effort recruiting friends or making any adjustments whatsoever. All value is derived from the userbase and ease of use. Facebook, Gchat, etc hit all of those fantastically.

OK, just tried it. I searched for all my friends and it just says "Sorry we couldn't find any results for this search." It also asked for my email address up front, and suggested I add so many individuals I've never met before as friends.

BTW, I found a 1-2 people I know and just sent them requests. Of course, I also knew their email addresses, so I don't see why I had to send them a "Poke" or friend request at all. But hey, FB is just more cooler. I must be missing something
 
OK, just tried it. I searched for all my friends and it just says "Sorry we couldn't find any results for this search." It also asked for my email address up front, and suggested I add so many individuals I've never met before as friends.

BTW, I found a 1-2 people I know and just sent them requests. Of course, I also knew their email addresses, so I don't see why I had to send them a "Poke" or friend request at all. But hey, FB is just more cooler. I must be missing something

I don't know what to tell you. A significant fraction of every human being on this planet uses Facebook. Sometimes search parameters can be difficult if you are looking for someone. However I've never once had a problem locating someone. I'd hazard that 90%+ of everyone in my age group has a FB. People use FB because everyone uses FB.
 
Honestly, I kind of liked MySpace better than Facebook. You could personalize it more. I hated Facebook when it first came out, and stayed away from it, until there was a mass exodus from MySpace to Facebook, so like a lemming, I followed. :(
 
People use FB because everyone uses FB.

Or they are tired of people asking "Why aren't you on Facebook?" so they join and never use it except maybe once every six months; and then FB itself admits that it has no way to know how many distinct individuals use it because it has become so easy for people to create fake profiles without getting caught. The game system encourages fake profiles because most people who game a lot refuse to pay for the game bonuses that they can create for themselves with fake profiles, like gifts in Mafia Wars or Farmville.
 
I don't know what to tell you. A significant fraction of every human being on this planet uses Facebook. Sometimes search parameters can be difficult if you are looking for someone. However I've never once had a problem locating someone. I'd hazard that 90%+ of everyone in my age group has a FB. People use FB because everyone uses FB.

If everyone uses FB how cum I couldn't find 95% of my friends on FB? I guess they don't count as real people because FB didn't recognize them. I'm gonna email them now telling them they really don't exist. Hope they take it well
 
Am I missing something ?

Yes.

You're missing the fact that a very large percentage of the population has no idea WTF you're talking about.

I don't use FB because it's "sexy".

I use it because it's currently the best tool for the job.

When something better comes along (and it will) I'll adopt the new technology that improves upon Facebook.

I think you should pursue this NNTP/cloud agent and see if you can't figure it out, package it, and make it commercially viable.

Maybe you'll be the next Mark Zuckerschwarts (or whatever the kid's name is).

Personally, I'm too busy raising a family, making money, and keeping my wife happy to bother learning anything about social networking other than where to put a user name and password.

If everyone uses FB how cum I couldn't find 95% of my friends on FB? I guess they don't count as real people because FB didn't recognize them. I'm gonna email them now telling them they really don't exist. Hope they take it well

Once you've got two or three of them as friends you'll see how it just sorta snowballs from there. In a week you'll have over 100 friends and you won't have to search for any of them.
 
Yes.

You're missing the fact that a very large percentage of the population has no idea WTF you're talking about.

I don't use FB because it's "sexy".

I use it because it's currently the best tool for the job.

When something better comes along (and it will) I'll adopt the new technology that improves upon Facebook.

I think you should pursue this NNTP/cloud agent and see if you can't figure it out, package it, and make it commercially viable.

Maybe you'll be the next Mark Zuckerschwarts (or whatever the kid's name is).

Personally, I'm too busy raising a family, making money, and keeping my wife happy to bother learning anything about social networking other than where to put a user name and password.

I'm busy too. That's why it doesn't seem too helpful to tell all the existing people I know to get on FB when I can just email/text em or just call em. But apparently email and phones are lame. That's why there's FB.
 
OK, just tried it. I searched for all my friends and it just says "Sorry we couldn't find any results for this search." It also asked for my email address up front, and suggested I add so many individuals I've never met before as friends.

BTW, I found a 1-2 people I know and just sent them requests. Of course, I also knew their email addresses, so I don't see why I had to send them a "Poke" or friend request at all. But hey, FB is just more cooler. I must be missing something

If everyone uses FB how cum I couldn't find 95% of my friends on FB? I guess they don't count as real people because FB didn't recognize them. I'm gonna email them now telling them they really don't exist. Hope they take it well

I'm busy too. That's why it doesn't seem too helpful to tell all the existing people I know to get on FB when I can just email/text em or just call em. But apparently email and phones are lame. That's why there's FB.

So don't use Facebook.
 
So don't use Facebook.

I have to use it because it's so cool. I just don't know how cool it is because I'm tech-stupid and therefore too dumb to learn how to use exotic crowded GUIs instead of telnet.
 
Or they are tired of people asking "Why aren't you on Facebook?" so they join and never use it except maybe once every six months; and then FB itself admits that it has no way to know how many distinct individuals use it because it has become so easy for people to create fake profiles without getting caught. The game system encourages fake profiles because most people who game a lot refuse to pay for the game bonuses that they can create for themselves with fake profiles, like gifts in Mafia Wars or Farmville.

I think the above is more indicative of generational differences in use. Something like 94% of 13-24 year olds have a Facebook and the vast majority use it frequently.
 
If everyone uses FB how cum I couldn't find 95% of my friends on FB? I guess they don't count as real people because FB didn't recognize them. I'm gonna email them now telling them they really don't exist. Hope they take it well

I have no idea. I'm guessing you probably have older friends.
 
I have no idea. I'm guessing you probably have older friends.

HA! No more. Tomorrow I'm going to invite them all to join me at the walled garden. There we will ask the younguns to teach us about coolness.

Also, I like to cook so I figured I'd stop at Farmville and pick some fresh fruits and veggies.
 
I have to use it because it's so cool. I just don't know how cool it is because I'm tech-stupid and therefore too dumb to learn how to use exotic crowded GUIs instead of telnet.

HA! No more. Tomorrow I'm going to invite them all to join me at the walled garden. There we will ask the younguns to teach us about coolness.

Also, I like to cook so I figured I'd stop at Farmville and pick some fresh fruits and veggies.


:roll:

This might be the most bizarre tantrum that I have ever seen.
 
People are already creating restricted social networks that the government and private entities are not allowed in. I won't mention their names here because I wish to protect their sanctity.

Facebook is not only a government shill, it actively censors content. A lot of alternative and grassroots news agencies that are trying to keep the public informed often find themselves censored. FB has been corrupted by greed and tyranny, and with the NSA scandal it cannot be trusted. Anyone who puts their real name on FB and displays their personal content is foolish.
 
HA! No more. Tomorrow I'm going to invite them all to join me at the walled garden. There we will ask the younguns to teach us about coolness.

Also, I like to cook so I figured I'd stop at Farmville and pick some fresh fruits and veggies.

Has anyone ever told you that you have a very confusing manner of talking to people?
 
:roll:

This might be the most bizarre tantrum that I have ever seen.

That's because it's not on FB. From what I've read in the mainstream media, I'm supposed to throw all my tantrums on FB so the whole world can see it.
 
I think the above is more indicative of generational differences in use. Something like 94% of 13-24 year olds have a Facebook and the vast majority use it frequently.

Twitter, instagram, and Ask.fm are becoming more popular than FB in that demographic.
 
Twitter, instagram, and Ask.fm are becoming more popular than FB in that demographic.

How do you measure/figure that? I just imagine it's hard to quantify when your usership levels are already so high.
 
How do you measure/figure that? I just imagine it's hard to quantify when your usership levels are already so high.

By the 18 year old girl who says "All of my friends have FB but we really don't use it that much except with grown ups. Most people text, or tweet. A lot of people use Instagram too because they can share photos easier." As for Ask.fm, it is more something I read somewhere that is was gaining strength among younger folks.
 
By the 18 year old girl who says "All of my friends have FB but we really don't use it that much except with grown ups. Most people text, or tweet. A lot of people use Instagram too because they can share photos easier." As for Ask.fm, it is more something I read somewhere that is was gaining strength among younger folks.

As a young person I'd just say that close to 100% of the people I know in my age group use FB aggressively, the other sites are just complimentary because they do different things.
 
I'm busy too. That's why it doesn't seem too helpful to tell all the existing people I know to get on FB when I can just email/text em or just call em. But apparently email and phones are lame. That's why there's FB.

I guess I can see how the manner in which one's "life" is set up would be a consideration here.

I don't travel in a huge circle of friends but I think there are probably only three or four people that I'd like to see on Facebook who aren't there.

That being the case, the way my "life" is set up, it's easier for me to deal with the majority of people I know via Facebook (because they're already members) and to deal with the few scragglers via text/emal/phone/LinkedIn/etc... than it would be to figure out this NNTP/cloud agent stuff, set up a group, set up access/privacy restrictions, set up a dedicated email account (I wouldn't want everything that's currently streaming into Facebook to go to either of my two current email accounts) get all my friends on board (and I'd assume they'd have to do the same with the new email address), and then take it from there.

I mean, if I've got 100 friends on Facebook and 3 or 4 who aren't using it, why whould 100 switch to a new system to accomodate 4?

And that assumes that all 100 people would even be willing to make the switch. Maybe 3 or 4 wouldn't want to bother and then I'd be in the same boat as when I began?

At the end of the day it isn't really a matter, to me, of whether Facebook is "cool" or Facebook is "lame".

It's a matter of availability and convenience.

Facebook provides a platform, into which they've put a lot of thought and innovation, that allows me to interact with a particular group of people socially in a manner that's acceptable to me given the amount of "work" I'm required to put into it.

I still deal with Facebook friends by phone, text, email, and face-to-face.

I still deal with non-Facebook friends by phone, text, email, and face-to-face.

I still have friends who are "members" of Facebook, and who have phone, email, and fax machinees, and I'd be better off hopping on a plane and flying to Ohio to see them in person if I really needed them.

In my "life" nothing is really broken so I see no need to fix anything.

It would seem that you're in a very different situation, so what works for me might no work for you.
 
I guess I can see how the manner in which one's "life" is set up would be a consideration here.


I don't travel in a huge circle of friends but I think there are probably only three or four people that I'd like to see on Facebook who aren't there.


That being the case, the way my "life" is set up, it's easier for me to deal with the majority of people I know via Facebook (because they're already members) and to deal with the few scragglers via text/emal/phone/LinkedIn/etc... than it would be to figure out this NNTP/cloud agent stuff, set up a group, set up access/privacy restrictions, set up a dedicated email account (I wouldn't want everything that's currently streaming into Facebook to go to either of my two current email accounts) get all my friends on board (and I'd assume they'd have to do the same with the new email address), and then take it from there.


Of course, no one wants to set up an NNTP server. What I was talking about is someone setting up an NNTP-based social networking service that others could easily use, and then integrating the (separate) cloud app into the service.


It would be totally unnecessary for people to use, but no more unnecessary than FB, which IMHO, is a total mess.

I mean, if I've got 100 friends on Facebook and 3 or 4 who aren't using it, why whould 100 switch to a new system to accomodate 4?


And that assumes that all 100 people would even be willing to make the switch. Maybe 3 or 4 wouldn't want to bother and then I'd be in the same boat as when I began?


At the end of the day it isn't really a matter, to me, of whether Facebook is "cool" or Facebook is "lame".


It's a matter of availability and convenience.


Facebook provides a platform, into which they've put a lot of thought and innovation, that allows me to interact with a particular group of people socially in a manner that's acceptable to me given the amount of "work" I'm required to put into it.


I still deal with Facebook friends by phone, text, email, and face-to-face.


How is it easier to communicate w/them on FB than by phone or email?


I still deal with non-Facebook friends by phone, text, email, and face-to-face.


I still have friends who are "members" of Facebook, and who have phone, email, and fax machinees, and I'd be better off hopping on a plane and flying to Ohio to see them in person if I really needed them.


In my "life" nothing is really broken so I see no need to fix anything.


It would seem that you're in a very different situation, so what works for me might no work for you.


I'm totally for convenience, FB looks like it's the opposite of convenience.
 
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