Social Networks and the Introverted
polycounter lvl 18
So..
I know there are a few of us on here that haven't partaken of the kool aid yet. So coming from the perspective of those that have not, I am asking to those that have...
Is the privacy and advertisement push trade off worth it? Has it helped with your career and skills? Or do you end up finding it a time sink like rechecking peoples status/playing farmville?
Has the networking helped on it more than face to face, linked in, or here? Do you end up having a large variety of interests peer group? Or end up just "friending" like minded?
Have you "friended" brands and businesses and if so, why?
I know there are a few of us on here that haven't partaken of the kool aid yet. So coming from the perspective of those that have not, I am asking to those that have...
Is the privacy and advertisement push trade off worth it? Has it helped with your career and skills? Or do you end up finding it a time sink like rechecking peoples status/playing farmville?
Has the networking helped on it more than face to face, linked in, or here? Do you end up having a large variety of interests peer group? Or end up just "friending" like minded?
Have you "friended" brands and businesses and if so, why?
Replies
It's important to note that how much you share is kind of up to you. You don't have to go crazy like some people do. It's worth it if you want to keep up with some old friends and family though. I love seeing my nieces grow up, even if I live 2,000 miles away.
I do post my work on facebook, but again, its friend minded. Its to show my friends and family what I am doing/showing them my art that they would otherwise never get too see.
Again with keeping it friend minded I try to keep my friends list limited to my actual friends, really cool people I met that I like to keep up with/keep up with there art or cool people I have worked with. I have very few people that I have never met before just because they are a great artist or post on polycount or because we have a bunch of friends in common.
Like I have a few "pending" friend requests that I might never accept from people that went to the same college as me and are friends with a bunch of my friends but I dont actually know. Want to keep it limited to my actual friends and generally people I have met/actually like. If I just want to just see someones cool art I can come here to PC and see it there. Facebook is for that other level of keeping up with your friends. Plus if im not friends with someone why do I want to see there silly status updates? ha
The biggest benefit I find with facebook is keeping up with my friends and family no matter where I live. I dont get to see all of my friends so being able to talk to them on facebook/see what cool trips they go on/what new job they got/silly pictures helps me still feel close to them even if I only get to see them once in a blue moon. This is why I love facebook.
Another benifit is how easy it is to share information between friends by people posting links they enjoy, like oh hey check out this awesome breakdown of Iron Man, check out cool stylistic short or hey this is an awesome band. Since there my friends I generally tend to share the same interests so these are great for seeing things you might miss or never run across. (Got one of my best friends hooked on Dubstep that way because I posted a Nero song I loved, and he was like oh shit this isnt just noise)
As for "friending" brands/business its actually called "liking". The reason for this is generally they post up cool things related to whatever the company is. Example would be, Naughty Dog posts up things that we do to the website like new Map Packs, picks from inside the studio, cool The Last of Us sculpture pictures, info on if were hiring and so forth. Or if you "Like" the Suicide Girls page they post safe for work pictures of the beautiful women on there site (guilty pleasure to see pretty girls
Too keep from being a facebook addict just check it in moderation like anything. Once or twice a day is fine, nothing huge is going to happen that needs your immediate attention. And avoid games, you could addicted!
In the end I think Facebook is a great way to stay in touch with your friends. I keep it to just friends and I have my Twitter account for work/professional stuff only. That way if people just want to see work they can just look at my twitter and not have to deal with the nonsensical dribble I and other people post on facebook hahah
I really like Twitter. I like how it's connections are made - You follow people you're interested in. There doesn't have to be a mutual connection in order to be able to receive their posts. I use Twitter for following both friends and professional contacts over multiple fields/industries. I get most of my world news from Twitter, also. One out of about 20 - 30 tweets is a "promoted" tweet, that's basically an advert. A lot of the time, it's in a field that I'm interested in, so it's not too much of a bother.
Google+ has taken the way Twitter works, and has expanded upon it. It allows for longer posts, better integration of content, more features, etc. I use it mostly as a "professional" platform, following artists and devs, and posting my own work to it. It has been, by far, the best thing I've used to get to know online-only friends better, make new friends, and make contact with a bunch of Polycount guys that I knew of but didn't really have much contact with before. I don't think I've seen a single advert on Google+, yet.
LinkedIn was completely worthless to me. I deleted my account after being a spam target for their emails every other day, for years.
I've got jobs through LinkedIn, so I wouldn't write that one off entirely although signing up to the groups is usually an excercise in spamming oneself.
I am using both Google+ and Twitter. I prefer Google+ way over Twitter by far, though admittedly I've only put significant effort into Google+
The thing I like about Google+ is that you can comment on other people's posts and interact with them without them having to follow you back. With Twitter, if you comment on someone's tweet and they haven't followed you then you're unlikely to be noticed at all, you might as well be shouting into the darkness it's rather depressing. The other reason I like Google+ over Twitter is that the signal to noise ratio is much higher (depending on who you follow of course). I'm following close to 600 on Google+ but only around 200 on Twitter. I can't keep up with Twitter at all, there's just too much noise.
From an introvert's perspective, I really enjoy Google+ it's easy to "meet" people with similar interests which makes for a great icebreaker. When you comment on someone else's post you at least know you share a common interest and can approach them in that context. You can also just lurk on a social network, but many won't follow you back, though that doesn't really matter if you're only intent is to lurk. Some people will assume you are a spam bot or something if you don't share enough personal information about yourself and block you. On Google+ people mainly want to know at least what interests you have so they can place you in an appropriate circle, without that they don't know what to do with you.
The downside of social networks from an introvert's perspective is that dealing with soo many people is really draining... I still think the benefits outweigh this atm. though I might change my mind in time.
From a networking for jobs perspective, I've seem quite a few interesting sounding jobs pop up now and then on both Google+ and Twitter that I doubt would ever be posted to a mainstream job board like Gamasutra Jobs or even on a forum like Polycount.
From a networking for online friends from an introvert living in an isolated location's perspective, I've found Google+ to be invaluable for meeting people that I would never be able to meet in person. Living in Hawaii the game dev community is rather non-existent and I feel more comfortable interacting with people that I don't really know very well online rather than in real life anyway.
From an aspiring indie developer's perspective, I've learned soo much from following and talking with other more experienced indies around the world. I think social networks are a great addition to forums like TIGSource or Super Friendship Club.
As far as game art goes I think Polycount is still king for getting critiques and noticed. Everything is focused in one place. One thing that I've noticed pop up that might be really cool though is Google+ hangouts. Aside from not having a web cam I'm still a bit too shy to just join in on one of those though, so from an introvert's perspective these might not be useful for you.
Social networks are definitely a time sink though. Not because of social games, but because there are so many people talking about interesting things. I at least find myself not wanting to miss anything.
I have yet to see an ad on Google+, Twitter ads are easily ignored.
As far as privacy goes, I figure Google already knows everything there is to know about me anyway so joining Google+ didn't make any significant difference.