Geodog

I've tried Ryze (quite a bit), Tribe and Friendster and Spoke (just a tiny bit), and now Orkut.

Here's what I've gotten out of Ryze:

- The ability to see who works at company [x], find out a bit about them, see what I might be able to offer them, and then send a friendly note. I've had my job applications submitted internally, I've learned critical inside info about companies ("We're really screwed up politically right now... stay away!" or "Just got a major new contract... things are looking up... great time to get in!")

- The chance to interact with and learn from luminaries like Ray Everett-Church and other influential and thoughtful folks whom I likely wouldn't have just fired up my e-mail program and whipped out an "Uh, hi, so how are you?" note to :D

And out of Orkut, even in its infancy:

- Again, the chance to chat with and learn from some really awesome folks whom I've admired from afar, in an easy-going and friendly setting.

- The ability to start or join communities and useful discussions on topics that interest me, without having to make the large investment in blog-setup time or forum-setup time or getting-people-to-my-site time, and so on.

- And, on admittedly a more, uh, non-business angle... I've learned which folks in my area / fields of interest are single (okay, I can flirt with them) and which ones aren't (definitely not appropriate to flirt with them), and I've been amazed and amused in some instances ("Oh man, THAT CEO is single? Wow, she's brilliant AND a hottie!")

And with both Ryze and Orkut, I've found that I've had an 'in' to chat someone up or ask them a question or ask for a small favor when I've learned they're friends with one of my friends ("Wow, man, you never told me you were friends with THAT guy! He's involved in [career area], and I'd love to chat with him. Mind introducing me to him?")

Of course, there are folks who spend all their time on social networking services trolling for dates or quasi-spamming about their obnoxious loser MLM services or simply trying to game the system :cough Marc Canter cough: to see how many random people they can add as a 'friend' before others get annoyed or they get shooed away as members.

But for the rest of us who take a more balanced approach, social networks can be useful or fun or both.

I like orkut.com. The initial population of orkut.com seems to be Googlers. Many, many Googlers are members, and they are heavily interlinked.

In this world, each Googler is incredibly popular, with many more friends than the average person. In this world, these people are not nerds, but the sparkling hub of a vast galaxy of coolness. Think of all that Google has given you: free search, great language tools, and all that. Can't you help them keep this wonderful fantasy world alive?

Adam,

Thanks a lot. I have a better sense of what the networks are used for, and why I'm probably not going to be making much use of them. First, I'm a very happy family man, so the flirting/dating aspect is wasted on me (as it probably would have been even when I was single). Second, I am personally reticent, so it is hard for me to imagine asking someone I have never met for a favor. I guess I'm in the minority in that one.

But thanks for going into such detail -- you have made it a little clearer for me.

Good luck in your networking endeavours.

Dear Mr. Hoskens,

What a pleasure to meet a former coworker from meatspace (so to speak) in cyberspace. I didn't know you stopped by occasionally. Perhaps we should start an Electronic Social Network -- I believe you know some people I know? I believe you even know some people from the great Google?

You must be very shiny and cool by now. :-)

Thanks,
Tim

P.S. I took the liberty of forwarding your great photo of Santa being chased by the Coast Guard to the good folks at Cellar Image of the Day.

Dude, if you make yourself a FoaF profile, you can be part of an Electronic Social Network without programming or signing up for any weird services. The only problem is that so few people have created FoaF profiles that you're likely to find yourself in a 1-node network.

I know one Google person. According to Orkut, I am neither shiny nor cool. Actually, they don't have a shininess index. Maybe next week.