THE JOYS OF THE INTERNET

Photo from Tumblr

All in all, I have ten online accounts–Facebook, Twitter, Plurk, Blogger (I actually have two; one is a private blog), YouTube, Friendster, Multiply, WordPress, and the latest addition (yet overly used) *insert drum rolls here* Tumblr.

Don’t make me count my email addresses. I think I only have four, but I am not so sure. For instant messaging, I use Skype, Chikka, and of course, Yahoo Messenger.

All of these accounts basically have the same features–profile customization, customary privacy settings, networking, photo and video uploading, etc. Still, you just can’t get enough of them that you have to make an account to every single one of them. At least that is what happened to me.

Listed below are some personal commentaries on the obviously-too-many accounts that I have.

Facebook

Unlike Friendster, Facebook implements a better privacy feature. It is easier to decide whether to confirm or ignore a contact invite because you can readily see if you have any mutual friend/s to begin with.

Others may not like this restricting feature of Facebook, especially if you are trying to stalk someone but you found out that his/her profile cannot be viewed. However, this is what I like most about Facebook. I’m not the type of user who just confirms whoever it is who wants to follow him/her online activities. The freedom to ignore–and block, if you really don’t like that person to be your online contact–is just perfect! I mean, I’d like to think of Facebook as an extension of the relationships I build offline, i.e. my contacts are only those whom I consider friends or friend of friends.

The applications such as the quizzes, trivia, quote finders, and games are equally interesting and fun. I actually think that I can be a good business owner someday. I specifically want to have a cafe’ business. Thanks to Cafe’ World for my early training. HAHA

I think what is lacking in Facebook is that you cannot customize your profile, i. e. there are no existing themes on how you want to see your homepage and profile. Still, having so many applications, the uniform and standard Facebook layout can still be considered an advantage.

Friendster

My Friendster account is five years old–a fact I wouldn’t know of if I had not checked my profile. It says there that I was a member since July 2004. Friendster was my first social network account. I even had it first before I had an account in Yahoo Messenger.

Everyone has Friendster. It was the trend then, but that was not the only reason why I made my own account. We just changed residence then and my SIM card gave up on me. Friendster was the only way I could stay in touch with my friends and schoolmates back in Mandaluyong. Apart from an exchange of emails, this was the first time that I realized how beneficial the Internet is in terms of communicating.

Unfortunately, Friendster has lost its charisma. Now, all I do when I open my Friendster is to check whether I know anyone whose birthdays are near. For this purpose, I’d say that Friendster is the most reliable because most, if not all, has a Friendster account–be it active or inactive.

The people may have shifted to other social networking sites. Still, I believe that Friendster is NOT dying. But only because the people–myself included–would not deactivate their accounts. Why would they? It’s their first SNS account. Not to mention that before, testimonials were the best thing there is. I, myself, would be lying if I say that I didn’t ask for a testimonial from almost every people that I know.

Friendster is not thriving either. There is now the new and improved Friendster. However, it is undeniably just a make-up of bits of ideas from other social networking sites  like Facebook and Twitter.

Plurk

Now this is something that I simply joined due to the bandwagon. It is actually fun at first because there’s all the excitement of going online as many times in a day as you can and having fans you don’t really know at all to gain karma point. The higher the karma points, the more flexible and interesting Plurk becomes because new features becomes available for your use.

Once you have reached the highest karma points–known as Plurk Nirvana–you probably get to use more emoticons or something like it. I would never know since I never reached that level yet. I think, the very reason that makes Plurk stand out among other social networking sites is that it makes you curious what’s new or what’s next. But once you are over that phase of curiosity, it becomes bland and instead of the usual what’s new, it becomes what now.

There are three things that I like most about the features of Plurk. (1) emoticons. I especially liked the dancing bananas; (2) the verb change feature (e. g. is, likes, thinks, wishes); and (3) the mark all as read option because sometimes, you just cannot read all those plurks and comment on each.

Plurk is not even a word..until now probably. Here is the etymology of PLURK that I read from some article online.

– People + Lurk = Plurk

– Play + Work: Play-Work.

– Peace, Love, Unity, Respect, Karma

– Verb potential: “Oh I googled this -> Oh I plurked it”

Multiply

I had my Multiply account when I was in my first year in college. And that was basically the start of my involvement in the blogosphere. Actually, it was the blog feature that I like most about Multiply. And of course, the posting options too. Like Friendster, the user has the freedom to choose the viewers/reader of his/her blogs and photos.

I only use Multiply for blogging before. Unlike Friendster where you can select all the photos you want to upload all at once, Multiply’s photo uploading feature is rather tedious. You have to browse photos one by one. On a second note, Multiply, similar to Friendster, has underwent an upgrade. Now, it has a chat feature, just like that in Facebook. For photo uploading, it now has a Multiply Uploader, which I must say is a great improvement. I just tried it and it was effortless.

Blogger

I just made a Blogger account last last month, and my blog posts are already thrice the number of my communication blogs. My blog serves like some sort of online diary. And it was made specifically for blogging, unlike Multiply.

I like the features of Blogger because it is very easy to understand and manage. I think the only problem I see is that I cannot–more like I have no idea how to do it–embed an online video.

Twitter

I used to describe Twitter as parang Plurk. But comparing the number of tweets and plurks I’ve made, it is clear that I enjoy using Twitter more. Twitter is definitely more widely known compared to Plurk. I mean, I don’t have to read any entertainment website to know what Tom Felton or Ashton Kutcher is doing, they tweet regularly. And I just have to follow their Twitter accounts to do so. Twitter is proven to be more useful as it is being used as a platform for news updates, advertising, marketing and promotion by other companies and sometimes, people such as celebrities and bloggers.

Re-tweet (RT) and hashtags are  Twitter’s unique features. I’ve observed this during the height of Typhoon Ondoy’s attack. With re-tweet, it is much easier to spread the news without owning it. For hashtags, all I have to do is to type #Ondoy on the search box above trending topics and all tweets regarding Ondoy fill the screen.

#Ondoy search results

Another thing that I like about Twitter is that same with Facebook, I can update my status using the first-person point-of-view. Plurk uses the third-person format. There are also a lot of Twitter applications that allows me to tweet even when I’m not on the Twitter web page. Examples are TweetDeck and Twhirl.

There are only two downsides that I have observed in Twitter: (1) you only get to build relationship with those whom you follow and follows you in return–at least when your profile is open for public viewing; and (2) it is hard to maintain or follow the conversation because there is no comment thread. One comment counts as a separate tweet. Re-tweeting then attaching the comment besides it is not really an option since there is a 140-character limit, like Plurk.

Tumblr

Tumblr

Tumblr is the recent addition to my online accounts. If Plurk has karma points, Tumblr has tumblarity. If Twitter has retweet, Tumblr has reblog. And just like Facebook, Tumblr has like–only, it is a heart-shaped icon.

The reblog feature allows you to easily copy content from other Tumblr users. One disadvantage to this feature is that sometimes, other users tend to remove the credit. Other than that, Tumblr basically has the same features as a blog. A Tumblr user can make a blog post, upload photos and videos, and place links.

What sets Tumblr apart is that it is somehow concentrated on the artistic side of people. And actually, most Tumblr users use their Tumblelogs for photo blogging.

Now, with all these online accounts, do I get to update all of it? Actually, I DO. One very helpful feature I seem to be very fond of nowadays is cross-posting. You update in one account, and it automatically updates in your other accounts. For instance, my Multiply blogs are crossposted to my Blogger account. Also, my Tumblr posts are crossposted to my Twitter and Facebook. I can also crosspost Plurk updates to Facebook and Twitter.

So what really is the joy of having 10 different online accounts? Maybe it’s the limitless possibilities for human interaction. With all these accounts, I get to reestablish relationships in a whole new environment. The fact that whatever it is that is happening online continues offline, and vice versa, does not make these relationships virtual at all. Also, the ability to publish content–whether it is a must-know information or simply a random rant–without restriction is actually just a plus factor. At least for me.