How do you use the social web?

We’ve seen it happen before our very eyes and it happens every day. It’s a fact: the web is constantly changing. It will never stop changing. As time has passed we’ve learned to adjust to changes brought with the computer, email, instant messaging, video conferencing, blogging, and rss. I’m sure you all remember your own individual experiences as technology has changed – in fact, it’s tough to imagine life with out the web as we know it today. Well, it should be no surprise – we’re in a “social” age on the web that influences how we use the web. Of course we’ve got myspace, love it or hate it. And then there’s facebook that vows to connect you with the people around you. There’s linkedin that claims to bring together your professional network. And perhaps you’ve entered the “twittosphere” and joined twitter that connects you with others by asking you “what are you doing?”. Of course there are many other social networks on the web, far too many to list. You definitely can’t deny, the web is more social than it has ever been.

Though I’m familiar with all the above sites I’ve listed I never really had the time to fiddle with being more “social” on the web. No, I haven’t found the magic trick to creating 10 extra hours in a day to write on someone’s wall in facebook or twitter away my day. But between getting quite a few facebook and linkedin requests as well as reading a lot about the hype with twitter I’ve decided to dig a little deeper to go beyond being familiar with these sites but understanding WHY people are using them. Obviously for the social connection, but when is it too much? Initially when I learned of twitter a year or two ago I didn’t see how it’d be useful to tell people what you’re doing at any given moment. Isn’t that overkill? I seriously don’t see how people have the time, but obviously they do and they’re using sites like twitter to “twitter” away sometimes pointlessly – other times informatively.

It’s true: keep up with technology or you get left behind. This doesn’t just apply to the web, it’s a part of every day life. Think about the last 100 years. 100 years ago we had no TVs, cellphones, or computers. Heck, this time 100 years ago there were no ballpoint pens, photocopiers, or even bandaids. So as I watch the social web continue to thrive, I’m interested in everyone’s thoughts because it’s changing the web and lives every day. So if you’ve got a minute – let me know:

How you use the social web – do you use myspace, facebook, linkedin, twitter? Or perhaps something else.
Why do you use these sites?
Would you consider them useful or a distraction?

And if you’ve heard me the last couple days around the lab you may have heard – I’m personally interested in learning if these sites are more useful or more of a distraction. If this many professionals in the industry are using sites such as twitter then it must be useful to some extent. A social web user I shall become – now officially on facebook, linkedin, and twitter. Add or follow me if you care to. Expect an update after Photoshop World.