Too Much Information

Several weeks ago I became aware of a new social networking site called Ello. It’s an up and coming network that is still very much in beta but the plan is it won’t have ads but will be free to use for everyone. I will point out that further examination shows there will be features added that will have a one-time fee that I assume will cover the costs. I requested an invitation and finally got one on the weekend. Setting up the account was pretty quick and easy and profile options are quite basic right now.

My first impression is of a network that is rather stark and empty, but more like a blank canvas with potential to become something. I’m not quite sure what that something is but I do have hope they have some success with it. Of course the down side is this is a much smaller network than Facebook and it’s unlikely to get too many people moving to it and using it for a while. I was optimistic when Google + came out a few years ago and really liked the look of it but it just hasn’t caught on with most people so it sits and mostly is a place for reading posts from few groups I follow there. And there was another network I joined that had a similar idea to be ad free from the beginning but never went anywhere to my best knowledge. I think it still exists but I can’t even recall its name right now and haven’t logged in for probably a year or more. Perhaps Ello will go further and maybe even be a success. Meanwhile, I need to work out how I want to fit in my social networking life.

What has been one of my favorite applications on Facebook has had a major overhaul. It’s almost a completely different game now. I don’t know what to make of all the changes just yet. So far, I’m finding it almost impossible to play and I’m not even being affected by some of the glitches being reported by many others. It certainly doesn’t feel like it will be as much fun now. I’m going to wait for the major fallout from all the changes to try to make up my mind.

I do have big concerns about one issue though. Before the new version came out, my only friends that showed up on the application were those that had installed it as far as I know. Now, all my friends seem to be listed and I clicked on some cards for the application listed under a few of the friends to see what was up with it. I didn’t actually do anything with anything but now those people are listed as particular friends for this application. I’m hoping this is a glitch and will be cleared up because to use this application requires going through sets of cards for all the “friends” on the app and I would hate to be involving non-users in the application unknowingly.

While I’ve not run across the same situation on other Facebook applications, there are others that have similar issues where I’ve discovered I’m “playing” with friends who aren’t actually using the applications. This is even worse than the expectation of so many applications that you will invite all your friends to join in so that you can progress further in the game.

As much as I have been enjoying Facebook for nearly a year, this particular aspect is one of the unappealing ones.