Social networking sites like Facebook are just data miners and marketing experiments. I’d certainly not rather waste my time with one at work, and I certainly don’t do so outside of work.

I guess I’m far more private than to want anything to do with the kind of social-networking sites that exist currently, especially considering Facebook profiles, for example, are trolled by its employees (oh but they use the ‘honor’ system — employees have responded that usually they _don’t_ troll profiles because, and I quote, “You’re too boring.” Insulting the customers? Why the @#$# would I want to deal with a company like that? Answer: I wouldn’t and don’t).

And having a social-networking site in-company in conjunction with another application that lists my bookmarks, etc, as suggested? Whatever happened to privacy? And with or without such ‘handy’ add-ons, what a serious waste of company time. Other methods of business ‘networking’ appear to have been successful long before social networking sites took root on the internet.

Sometimes what I think sites like Facebook are really all about is social-reconditioning along the lines of removing privacy altogether, and especially the actual notion that privacy is a precious right.

Here’s an example of why I wonder about the true nature and intentions of sites like Facebook: not all that long ago I read an article with comments from Facebook members, including one particular comment that made me want to throw up and then shove the Bill of Rights into that Facebook user’s hands… “I know I don’t have a right to privacy, but…” The context was regarding employers checking out sites such as Facebook for information on would-be employees. You know WHAT?? You know that you DON’T have a right to privacy? WHA-???

And heaven forbid you post your raunchy night out on Facebook, only to find your new prospective employer has taken a nice long look at it.

Yep, I don’t think I’ll ever become a ‘member’ of sites like Facebook — I’m just either too paranoid or not that gullible. Maybe both.

Oh yes, and I’m a systems engineer (mainframe). I have yet to find how not getting mired into a social-networking site is hurting me. I don’t think it is at all. And I can rest assured that someone isn’t scrutinising every inch of my profile to figure out who I am. If I want you to know who I am, I’ll tell you. Otherwise, bugger off.

Here are some excertps of the Gartner report so you can judge for yourself:

Unlike IM and VoIP, social networking is a far more intricate form of collaboration. There is no guarantee that a deployment of a corporate social networking solution will be successful, even if there is already a solid base of people using sites like Facebook in the organization.

Social networking in the working environment is still being socialized as a collaboration toolset. No consistent pattern has emerged on how Facebook-style social networking can support work outcomes. Additionally, the initial slew of third-party extensions is currently banal and adds little value to professional networks (this has the potential of changing during the next 12 to 18 months because a second wave of more-substantive business-oriented applications is on the horizon)….

Corporate social networking solutions are generally good products and offer some security advantages over Internet-based social networking sites. However, IT departments would do well in realizing that ultimately the value of social networking resides in content and not code.

However, the fact that corporate social networking incurs licensing fees means that IT departments must tread very carefully to ensure they’re not committing themselves to expensive social networking white elephants. To do this:

• IT departments should focus their primary attention not on products but on the human factors that affect the uptake of social networking technology. On that basis, Internet-based social networking solutions offer IT departments a no-cost way to achieve that outcome.

• IT departments shouldn’t overplay the security risks of Internet-based social networking sites. True, sensitive data can find its way out of the organization; however, that is a reality regardless of whether this technology exists or not. Organizations may be better served by ensuring that their policies on the confidentiality of corporate information are up-to-date and that staff are made aware that these policies will be enforced in a social networking context.

• IT departments should consider making social networking investment decisions on a component-by-component basis rather than as a suite. Doing so separates high- versus low-value technologies and provides an opportunity to determine whether existing IT systems can be used for those deemed important. For example, social tagging of Internet sites may be ranked as being of low relative importance. The best way to address this may be to recommend a standard Internet-based tagging site (such as Digg, BlinkList, de.licio.us, Furl) for staff to use. Blogging, on the other hand, could be deemed important. … Additionally, IT departments should actively support social networking best practices by doing things such as creating social networking usage communities, sponsoring regular technology fairs, or recommending best-practice sites to learn social networking techniques — even seeking to understand social networking by actively using it themselves.

great stuff. could agree with you more regarding the content v connection debate:

http://www.socialtimes.com/2007/12/its-the-connection-stupid/

Now I suppose it’s both a bit of an experiment and a bit of me being a stubborn disbeliever. Is it possible to be successful as a Web 2.0 consultant and not be in Facebook? Well, clearly yes - business is booming. And what with Beacon etc., I’m not really glad I’m not on Facebook.

Facebook is not the web, it’s just on the web.