Facebook’s dark matter: “secret” groups
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Re: Facebook’s dark matter: “secret” groups
#2I use FB only for groups.
I think the reason people are not moving off of FB to G+ is because of the groups. These secret/closed groups are heavily organized and ingrained and it is practically impossible for people to make a move to anywhere else. These FB groups are like Yahoogroups (the old fashioned email listserv) which are still going strong as far as I know.
Re: Facebook’s dark matter: “secret” groups
#3I use FB only for groups. I think the reason people are not moving off of FB to G+ is because of the groups. These secret/closed groups are heavily organized and ingrained and it is practically impossible for people to make a move to anywhere else. These FB groups are like Yahoogroups (the old fashioned email listserv) which are still going strong as far as I know.
I discovered groups quite recently, and colour me surprised at the kind of stuff that goes in on some of them.
I joined this local car club group, and there's literally hundreds of people every day posting up pictures of their cars asking for... swaps. SWAPS?! This happens in the real world?!
On more investigation there's local groups like "Under $50"... to "Under $1000" - and my gods, they're soooo suspect.
I can understand why they're a big part of people's lives, because they've got a wealth of content!
Re: Facebook’s dark matter: “secret” groups
#4Can some people talk about example secret groups? I quit using facebook/never had the friends to discover these.
Re: Facebook’s dark matter: “secret” groups
#5People seriously didn't know about this? "Secret" Groups are probably the only reason that I and any of the friends I care about are still using Facebook.
Re: Facebook’s dark matter: “secret” groups
#6Can some people talk about example secret groups? I quit using facebook/never had the friends to discover these.
I am in several regular groups and one secret group. The regular groups I am in - one is a local group, one is a memorial group for someone who died young, one was started by a friend for his hobby.
The secret group has a lock on its tab and says "Secret Group - Only members see the group, who's in it, and what members post". No one who I am friends with knows I'm in the group aside from people in the group. Not sure what more to say - it has a wall which is somewhat active, although content was better and more diverse when the group started, now it is mostly 1-2 boring friend-of-friend chatterboxes. It also had a chat room, although Facebook killed group chat rooms a few months ago.
Re: Facebook’s dark matter: “secret” groups
#7I use FB only for groups. I think the reason people are not moving off of FB to G+ is because of the groups. These secret/closed groups are heavily organized and ingrained and it is practically impossible for people to make a move to anywhere else. These FB groups are like Yahoogroups (the old fashioned email listserv) which are still going strong as far as I know.
I discovered groups quite recently, and colour me surprised at the kind of stuff that goes in on some of them. I joined this local car club group, and there's literally hundreds of people every day posting up pictures of their cars asking for... swaps. SWAPS?! This happens in the real world?! On more investigation there's local groups like "Under $50"... to "Under $1000" - and my gods, they're soooo suspect. I can un…
I'm sorry, I don't really understand what you said, but you piqued my interest. What do you mean by "suspect"? What are swaps? What is under $50? What kind of content do they have?
Re: Facebook’s dark matter: “secret” groups
#8Can some people talk about example secret groups? I quit using facebook/never had the friends to discover these.
The only secret group that I am in is for an organization which is, in turn, a secret.
I can't imagine why you'd want a truly secret group otherwise. Not just closed, where non-members can't see the content, but secret, where non-members don't know the group exists.
Re: Facebook’s dark matter: “secret” groups
#9I use FB only for groups. I think the reason people are not moving off of FB to G+ is because of the groups. These secret/closed groups are heavily organized and ingrained and it is practically impossible for people to make a move to anywhere else. These FB groups are like Yahoogroups (the old fashioned email listserv) which are still going strong as far as I know.
Now wait a second.
I am in a highly organized secret Facebook group mah-self. The thing is that this highly organized quality means that they could jump anywhere if they really wanted to. Perhaps you "semi-organized".
Basically, I think lock-in to any social networking pretty much has to come through a group disorganization, through the fact that a given setup works for some members of the group but these members are not so committed that they'd actually jump from one group to another.
But there are other factors, I think G+ only has traction with early adopters. By starting at Harvard, Facebook itself spread from high-social-prestige people to the rest of us. G+, for whatever reason, may be spreading the same way but that kind of effect only works with the tenuous connections you want to have with people who aren't wholly committed. The cohesive connection you with people in a set group don't require any given medium to happen.
Anyway, personally I'm not going to G+ due it's even-more-draconian-than-Facebook anonymity policy (Facebook's policy is pretty much that they only say they care).
Re: Facebook’s dark matter: “secret” groups
#10Odd one this for me.
I recently closed my FB account, and it was exactly because of: “Twitter makes me love people I've never met; Facebook makes me hate people I know.”
Not the Twitter bit as I don't use it, but the FB part was exactly what happened to me. I just ended up loathing almost every one I "knew". So, coupled with the constant rumblings about FB's privacy attitudes and all that, I closed my FB account. However, the reason I ended up loathing all my "friends" was because of the secret groups. It was in the groups where I began to really not like them. But it is true that the vast majority of my FB time was spent in those groups.
So, I go with the initial point, but also agree with the parts that are supposed to disprove it.