DISQUS

Sam · 10 months ago

I believe Microsoft's Linda Stone coined the term continuous partial attention in 1998 in Davos

Louis Gray · 10 months ago

Sam, she may have used the term continuous partial attention, but she
didn't refer to continuous parallel attention, which I brought up in
May. http://louisgray.com/live/2008/05/continuous-pa...

Alexander van Elsas · 10 months ago

Always the positive , aren't you Louis ;-) IMO this is just nature of things. You dive in something new, get enthusiastic, blown away, spend too much time, and then realize there is more to life than just 'social networking'. It's play and fun, but it doesn't replace real-life. To change your daily habits and incorporate this into your life the service needs to provide a lot of value. Otherwise the effort is just too big. Have a good time and enjoy life as it is too short to be depressed about it :-)

Louis Gray · 10 months ago

Alexander, I often get labeled as being overly positive. If you see the underlying text, you'll see I highlighted other folks' tendency to get frustrated/depressed with their online activities, and to actually blame the tools - when it's them instead. :-)

Alexander van Elsas · 10 months ago

Louis, that is probably one of your best characteristics. I'd rather hear you talk all day then hearing depressing stories. Wrote a post about that a while back. A friend of mine explained he hadn't watched the news on TV in 2 years. Felt like vacation to him. I think that is pretty smart

WorldofHiglet · 10 months ago

:) I see this in action every week on FF and other places, but I've not seen it described before. Interesting, and I like your last paragraphs about questioning *why* ppl get involved in social networks in the first place. Apart from the call to your friend, was there any other reason you posted this today? Because, for people on FF in particular, I think this is very timely. Good bacon....:)

Louis Gray · 10 months ago

WorldofHiglet, no major reason for it going up today. If you click out to the "Examples", you'll see posts from Tamar and Dan Morrill (TechWag) that got my attention in the last 48 hours, as well as one from Jennifer Leggio. After adding them up, the post wrote itself.

Sam · 10 months ago

My bad, linda's termanology is so widely used I read partial not paralell. I stand corrected. :)

Phil Glockner · 10 months ago

I don't want to say that I'm in agreement with you here, but it's true.. Even when I cheerfully try to deny the grim facts that I am facing, I notice attention and interest wilting on the social networks that I visit.

I think I am a little lucky that I am for the most part introverted -- I've mostly come to terms with myself and so I know I can keep writing even if it is only for a small audience.. perhaps only myself. When I think about writing and only me and maybe one or two other people reading it, instead of making me sad I feel like it's worthwhile.

Because honestly, who's opinion do I want on my writing? My friends and people I care about. If they stop reading, perhaps then I will decide to do something else.

Mark Dykeman · 10 months ago

I agree with the overall message in your post, Louis. There's likely some social contagion going on here, where seeing other people complain may cause small irritants to seem larger and lead formerly content or upbeat people to think a bit differently.

As I look down the list I can see that I've experienced or felt many of these things over the past few months. It is worth noting that tools are getting better but, as you also note, I think that the honeymoon stage of social media is more than over and, like many relationships, you may have sober second thoughts about time and effort requirements and the value that will come out at the other end.

I tend to think of it more as depression and reality checks in general. It's also a possible manifestation on how Maslow's hierarchy of needs kick in depending on one's environment. When people start worrying more about survival, food, shelter, etc. it becomes harder to spend the time on the higher needs in the hierarchy.

Food for thought: thanks for writing this, Louis.

samkidd · 10 months ago

Nice article and some great points made in there. Especially the "Why did you start social networking in the first place? It wasn't to count friends or to participate in memes of the day, I would bet. "

This is the one thing I'm seeing more of all the time. People are spending more time trying to get more friends than actually using social networking for what it was ment to be used for. Which is finding people with a common interest and learning and talking to people you would never normally have had the chance to deal with. I think the power of social networking is not in the numbers game but it's in how you engage with your network and what value you bring to the friends you have.
Sam

gregorylent · 10 months ago

an architect once told me he could design an award-winning house, and guarantee that the couple living in it would get divorced, simply because of a design that impeded something not easy to measure. award winning, means it would look great ...

i think many social networks, and especially friendfeed have this quality ... it looks good, but will drive you crazy after awhile ..

nothing more frustrating than continuous partial reward ... just made that up, you can use it ...

continuous partial reward ... makes you crazy after awhile .. just watch

abdulghafoor · 10 months ago

What about he depression of spending countless man-hours and still not being able to understand what social media means and how it is a tool that you can use to your own advantage.... I am a new in this club. However, I am determined to learn and understand the myths..

Tamar Weinberg · 10 months ago

I SAW IT! But as I mentioned on my own discussion thread, I'm not "depressed," just sad that when I come back to FF to check on activity every so often, there's little community engagement and more of the "every man for himself" mentality.

Louis Gray · 10 months ago

And Tamar, there's no doubt you're partially right. Some people are overly weighted here, like on most services, and it will take time for things to become more evenly distributed. A lack of activity on individuals' feeds is one major reason I've seen some people opt to not participate.

warzabidul · 10 months ago

I will have to read this but watching a documentary at the moment. It's an interesting topic.

Jason Kaneshiro · 10 months ago

I still think it's partly the tools. Photoshop doesn't annoy me as much as social media. I really think we're missing productive tools that deliver a clear ROI. Social media is more similar to an epic video game like WoW that personally, I'm feeling less motivated to play. I have cut down significantly - that solution worked for me.

Tamar Weinberg · 10 months ago

Louis, but that's not exactly what I'm saying. The issue in particular is that I think FF had that level of engagement a few weeks ago. Nowadays, not so much. However, in general, I can see it being an obstacle particularly for a newcomer.

Erin · 10 months ago

Does it mean something when I got frustrated that I couldn't find a "share this" option on this post so that I could post it to my Facebook profile? :-)

Mark · 10 months ago

As a long time blogger I definitely understand the challenges of keeping your motivation up. This is a excellent post to take to heart. Thanks

Leo · 10 months ago

Funny points....I personally use social networks (for the most part) as just a means to keep up. Not trying to get 'discovered'...just keeping up with friends and people who interest me....

Oh, I also use it to brand myself as well but that is another story altogether...

Jennifer Leggio · 10 months ago

Thanks for the link, Louis, but I don't know that I am your best example. In regards to Twitter popularity, which was my biggest complaint, I fear I fall onto those stupid top 100 lists daily. I was guilty of doing the self-congratulatory bit in the past (as, lets face it, we all have) but I hope like hell I pull away from it. We social marketeers / bloggers aren't rocket scientists. I think we've just convinced each other we are. And there's not one darn impressive thing about it.