Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, or G+?

I realize you all HATE social media, but I have a question and need a poll response please?

There are dozens of social media sites out there, each with their own specific style of their interface.

Of the four main ones (at least the ones I use regularly), here are their styles and "abouts".

Facebook
- post-style, friends-based, kinda like an open roaming post-based system.
- Promotes conversation and keeping up with friends.

Twitter
- Short 140 character updates.
- Promotes quick updates and keeping up with friends.
- 140 characters is a bit more difficult to follow because it sometimes requires learning a "third language"

Pinterest
- Rolling displays of images related to the post in question (requires the upload of an image)
- Mostly used for picture-related subjects, also used by sites like tapiture.com and others that specialize in collecting images more than conversation or topics.

G+
- Rolling displays of topics, kinda like a cross between Facebook and Pinterest.
- Good to promote conversation and updates, but is a different format than most are used to.

What I'm curious about is this.

If a new site (whyzzat / flusterduck, or whatever) were to appear, which style format would you be most comfortable using?

In terms of what I use I'd have to say Reddit or Voat, then again perhaps it's time for a change.

By "other" I mean, the pub - or something similar.
I personally don't facebook, pinter or G+ and though I tweet from time to time I don't find it social. Youtube used to be social back in the day when they had video replies and less autoplay so you could type a comment at the end of a video.
I don't like any of those "social" sites that filter content to suite you - because then you don't get enough contrary opinions. Rather than only getting more of what I "liked" last time or or having a very "me" focused inflow I prefer to find conversations to barge into.
I know that many people do like the comfy unchallenging stream of "tuned" content but that's because they don't know any better so I cannot speak to what would be popular.

facebook is a sewer.....after a 3 month "mistaken" block I suddenly found myself able to get back on facebook a couple of days ago.

I made my page friends ONLY and will never post in public again. I'm only taking to friends I actually know, or in groups I moderate/am a member of.

G+ is WAY better, simpler and easier to use. vastly superior to farcebook.

I'm really enjoying pinterest. I'm relatively new to it but it's satisfying a passion. It's like having an electronic scrapbook. As an artist one always collects pictures..here I can do it without cluttering up my place.

new to twitter also.....it has it's interesting aspects. I love getting all the sciency tweets...wonderful pictures and all that.
I've noticed that some people like to argue on twitter. I find this idea ridiculous. I try to avoid that

anyway, G+ has some really nice groups or Communities as they are called.....great for in depth discussions - the best of the bunch.

@the_leander

Reddit to me has always been difficult to read. The formatting looks incredibly sloppy and haphazard (hence unreadable) as well as more like a chaotic dumping toilet of information.

Never even heard of "voat" but it very much looks like SocialEngine with one of their "reddit style" (upvote) themes applied. It's a little harder to isolate SocialEngine sites because they are all sold branding-free.

Wayne

@FluffyMcDeath

Is the reason you don't use said sites more of an annoyance thing, or a privacy factor thing? I understand the privacy concerns, but the "targeted feed" is actually one of the reasons I use Facebook almost exclusively.

1) There's a public feed which you can follow (or not)
2) You can add friends and choose to follow their updates (or not)
3) You can decide -- to a limited extent -- who sees your posts, and who doesn't.

G+ is similar in targeted feeds, but their interface feels really "alien" to me and I've never quite gotten used to the "facebook meets pinterest" scrolling layout. Not to mention the whole "circles" thing. Just feels very "Androidy" to me versus "friends"..

My biggest concern with Facebook (and Google really) is the privacy thing, so I'm imagining that if I can come up with a target-specific "facebook" where the privacy concerns are negated, that would be optimal for me.

I *almost* said I'd consider putting up an Amiga-centric social-driven site, but I'm afraid there's still a little too much animosity in that group (or at least a few miscreant individuals) to warrant the investment of either the money or the time...

Wayne

@cecilia

Is your loathing for Facebook driven by their "real name" policy and that fiasco? If so, I can understand that, but I still don't understand why a large group of people get away with names like "Jane IAmTotallyBlessed Doe"... I'm guessing if Facebook trimmed all those accounts, they would have groups screaming charges of racism?

Wayne

@the_leander

Take a look at this SocialEngine demo to see what I mean.

http://community.onsocialengine.com/

Wayne said:

@FluffyMcDeath

Is the reason you don't use said sites more of an annoyance thing, or a privacy factor thing?

Click to expand...

I think the answer to that question is "yes".
The annoying and the privacy, though the latter is less visible but more insidious. I don't like all the questions, real name stuff, add phone number, tag your friends, tag yourself, blah blah blah. I'm already providing content. You want to know more about me, find it yourself and quite trying to encourage me to give up my personal details.

The sites themselves are generally a mess - visually and content-wise unless it's a page managed for the purpose of a business or a cause with paid custodians, but then they are rather dry and dull. The personal pages are often too egocentric and banal.

Generally I prefer to go to topic based pages and have a good chat rather than people pages and say "yo, dude" a bunch of times a day. That small talk I do face to face. Forum spaces have always been more like a coffee shop where you can go have a long discussion with a bunch of people you don't really know all that well except you meet them all the time at that coffee shop.

For potentially good to know people I just use linked in (an old boss basically forced it on the employees - probably because he knew long before the rest of us what was coming!!!) which is more of a little black book in your back pocket. But for friends I just communicate directly in ones and twos to coordinate real life things.

The "social" sites just take time out of my day I could be spending with friends.

Wayne said:

@cecilia

Is your loathing for Facebook driven by their "real name" policy and that fiasco? If so, I can understand that, but I still don't understand why a large group of people get away with names like "Jane IAmTotallyBlessed Doe"... I'm guessing if Facebook trimmed all those accounts, they would have groups screaming charges of racism?

Wayne

Click to expand...

the whole "real name" BS sure did't help my view of facebook, but I've disliked that place for quite a long time.

there's only ONE reason I stay and that's because family is on it. Family meaning people I live near as well as people who live in Europe. We have several Private groups where we share photos..and it's quite convenient to show my mother (who is NOT online at all) photos of our family.

But, when I venture out into the open, facebook is populated by immature crazy people. And it's gotten worse over the years.

facebook is also overly complicated. I don't find it difficult to figure it out, but I see people experiencing problems because they can't understand how to control their settings.

What I love about G+ is that it's incredibly simple. Circles are what YOU create. You are entirely the Master of your domain. All of my family members on G+ are in a circle called "family". If I want to show them an album I just share to THAT circle. No one else on G+ sees it. You can create as many circles as you wish and include anyone you want in any of them. One person can be in more than one circle. A circle is just a category. See how easy?

In some ways they are like "Lists" in Twitter. If I wish to see tweets only from a certain category I go to that list and there they all are. I can do the same in G+........go to that circle and the page fills up with posts only from that circle. I find it very convenient.
I've made lists in facebook but the whole thing is such a mess...honestly, it's so sloppy.

The thing that I really hate about facebook is the snide attitude that is reflected in their moronic "real name" policy. You can't contact them directly if you get kicked off. There's no logic too their policies. And their Report feature allows bullies to attack you. Facebook just accepts the bullies report and you are kicked off without a thought. go to facebook, do a search for #MyNameIs and see the articles listed where this activity is discussed.

anyway, I don't feel comfortable on facebook...I don't know which wacko may pop out. Which is why I'm staying in those private groups.

I feel fine on G+
I don't feel as if i have to watch what I say. Yes, much of the time I am in groups, especially the ones I moderate, but I feel that there's more adults on G+ than facebook.

btw, #SpockQuestionsSongLyrics now trending on twitter. One of the best:


and:

Wayne said:

@the_leander

Take a look at this SocialEngine demo to see what I mean.

http://community.onsocialengine.com/

Click to expand...

That's pretty interesting, kind of half way between Reddit and the current iteration of Slashdot at a glance. It looks pretty good.

That said I agree absolutely with your point about reddit's interface - without RES it's all but unusable. Any site that requires a third party add-on to make it usable/manageable really aught to rethink it's strategy.

One interesting thing to note is that Twitter has recently introduced Shadow bans - IE it looks like your account is there, but it doesn't show up for other people. This can be triggered by being assigned to block bots... So far the primary victims seem to be anyone putting out right wing views and gamer gaters. I fully expect to see a civil war based on who can kill off the most accounts the quickest.

In short, I think Twitter could well be in trouble.

Well, tax refund is here. The question is, Hackintosh, or new software? Both of which are kinda un-needed but wanted for the hobby of it...

Both have been on my radar for a while. Bought a Mac Mini about a month ago to take to work with me for graphics stuff, but I'm finding that it didn't really scratch the itch to build and experience a Hackintosh...

Problem is, when I'm bored with the hackintosh, it becomes a very expensive doorstop, or worse, a Windows box that I have no interest in using.

I guess I really need to sit down and chart this in a Pro/Con chart....

Wayne

Wayne said:

Problem is, when I'm bored with the hackintosh, it becomes a very expensive doorstop, or worse, a Windows box that I have no interest in using.

I guess I really need to sit down and chart this in a Pro/Con chart....

Wayne

Click to expand...

If you go the Hackintosh route you could always build with a the idea of a media centre in mind - Kodi (XBMC) or something afterwards...

Ultimately it's your call and we're cool either way.

Although I'm sitting here wanting to build a hackintosh just for shits and giggles, I know that ultimately I'd end up with it being a Windows box (unless it was truly spectacular and problem-free -- which is why I run real Macs).

On the other hand, sheer boredom and the desire to "do something different" is what's driving the whole site software thing too. If it were another $150 program like Xenforo was, I wouldn't even blink. The simple fact is though, that it's not $150. It's more like $450 plus theme(s) plus various plugins I'd want.

I can't install it on Salemspectator.com because that site has a "larger than AO" community and doing so would kill it (as well as the google ad income which pays for the hosting) making any such idea a moot point entirely.

I have several other domains, but pretty much all of them are "wasteful vanity domains" like Whyzzat which would be neigh impossible to use in a clearly targeted manner. The exception -- I believe -- would be dndplayer.com (Dungeons and Dragons) that I've owned for about 15 years now but never used because I stopped playing D&D about that same time. It'd be about like me trying to run an online community for Amiga users (perfect analogy really).

So, that leaves me with "both options are really wasteful spending, but dammit, I want to do it..." (in that childish kicking and screaming voice)...

I'm doomed.

Wayne

P.S. - For the record (in case it grants you ideas?), my available domains are as follows;

• amigawiki.com -- In use (until June anyway)
• Amihost.net -- anchor domain, in use.
• Dailygrinch.com -- Vanity domain, cool name.
• Dndplayer.com -- Dungeons and Dragons related. Purchased 2001, then stopped playing D&D.
• Eatlivelearn.com -- Originally purchased when I was losing weight with the idea of building a pinterest-style recipes/weight-loss site.
• Flusterduck.com -- Vanity domain, cool name.
• Gl1800.info -- Original thought was to build a Honda Goldwing Wiki site. Couldn’t find good wikiware, sold my Goldwing.
• Huntsvillemafia.com -- Purchased 2001 when I lived in Huntsville, AL and had a core group of friends and family. Will let go come renewal probably.
• Jason47.com -- In use (for a friend).
• Moviehouserules.com -- My attempt at building a movie-related review site. Dumb idea.
• Simplybitchin.com -- Vanity domain, cool name.
• Salemspectator.com -- In use – Large Days of Our Lives community site.
• Segwayne.com -- In use – My personal vanity domain
• Shutteractive.com -- Original thought was to build a Pinterest-style photography page. Lost interest.
• Snarktech.com and snarktechnology.com -- Vanity domains bought to sell novelty pins/buttons on. No idea why.
• Tuspost44.com -- Reserved for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier site (friend).
• Whyzzat.com -- No idea why this one still exists

Wayne said:

Well, tax refund is here. The question is, Hackintosh, or new software? Both of which are kinda un-needed but wanted for the hobby of it...

Both have been on my radar for a while. Bought a Mac Mini about a month ago to take to work with me for graphics stuff, but I'm finding that it didn't really scratch the itch to build and experience a Hackintosh...

Problem is, when I'm bored with the hackintosh, it becomes a very expensive doorstop, or worse, a Windows box that I have no interest in using.
Wayne

Click to expand...

I did actually build a Hac, several years ago now.
I had a winXP box that I wasn't using much so reformatted it to dual boot OSX.
I'd imagine things have improved in the intervening years but back then the set up was extremely time consuming and rather complicated.
I did get quite a sense of achievement when the thing booted into OSX and I could run Logic on it. The plan was to use it as my audio machine, freeing up my then Macbook for everything else. That plan worked OK for a couple of months until I absent-mindedly clicked to allow an automatic software update, which borked the install.

I still have the machine (*very* occasionally use it for winXP) but I never did get around to once again jumping through all the hoops to get OSX back up and running on it.

@cecilia

Turns out, Google+ is dead. There are dozens of articles, I can search if you'd like, but one of the main causes in some of the articles is the hatred over the "circles" idea, which most people viewed as "not intuitive at all"..

http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2015/04/17/five-reasons-why-google-died/
http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/why-google-is-dying-and-nearly-dead/617715

I'm still completely waffling over spending $500 on the software though. Not like the good old days when I could just whip out a card and whimsically buy things.

Funny, the older I get, the more money I make, the less money I have to play with.

Wayne

@Robert

The one thing keeping me from just building one is the "upgrade path requiring a complete wipe and reinstall" ordeal. I'd hate to get it set up the way I wanted, to have it working better than any Mac I've ever seen, to need a new feature of a new OS, and suddenly have to start over from scratch software-wise.

If Apple would just stop trying to lock down their stuff so hard, I'd buy Apple hardware and just upgrade it (mem/SSD/etc)... They stopped allowing that in 2012 though...

Another aspect is that I just bought my Mac Mini (i5/2.8 8gb/1tb Fusion drive) and I *love* it but I bought it for work and they refuse to allow it on the network, which makes it almost impossible to use unless I share my iPhone's network connectivity.

Now, I'm thinking of three possibilities;

1. Leave it on my desk with the accompanying 27" monitor, accepting the wasteful purchase;
   
   
2. Take it home, attaching it to my 60" HDTV (which was fun, but again, wasteful as I'd probably never use it).
   
   
3. Give it to my Dad, who will never bother to learn how to use it (it frightens him because he's 72 and "used to" Windows).
   
   
4. or oh yeah, Sell it, and the 27" monitor..

The fourth option would clear the way for the SocialEngine license, but again... Decisions, Decisions...

Wayne