I have been trying for some time to put my finger on what is wrong with the facebook generation. In my previous blog I began to touch on my dis-ease with the "standard" of conversation that facebook and the other range of social networks are generating.
After reading a blog by Kevin Roberts on eye movement analysis and a blog by Marc Andreesen on the failure of social networks (including sms, irc etc) it is clear that an electronically assisted conversation will never completely replace a face to face interaction.
What is more distressing is the fact that "corporate" interference in the conversational domain means that the messages on your facebook page are totally disabling. Another article from Marc relates to our ability to concentrate on a particular element / piece of work (which are key in the attraction economy) is that as humans we can only process one piece (again one piece) of information at any point in time. So if you were to combine this with our left to right reading ability and the focus on the top left corner it baffles me as to why this area [on most sites] is occupied by a fucking logo....
This said. The blog platform is flawed but by no means floored. The conversation is certainly too controlled in this space, but at least it is not peppered with unwanted commercialism. And it is fundamentally debilitated by timing (for those "normal folks" who can't possibly live on their blog we don't always come back when the passion is hot thus potentially limiting the impact and flow of the conversation) and lack of flow of the conversation, but none the less it can be natural - whereas posting something to someones wall can just become graffiti.
Social networks on a facebook scale are clipped and for the sms generation - should real conversations be moving there - I am not so sure, because ultimately these conversations - although real - are not particularly deep and meaningful.
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