I'm running a workshop on Websites, Blogging and Facebook for business this week, and this clip gets a definite play - good commentary for those of us familiar with the networks, and I believe enough information to be insightful (and funny) for those who've only heard of them on TV.
Why? I thought it was a useful, and amusing insight into the ridiculous nature of social networking, and ties in with a lot of stuff that has been talked about on HN (eg Matt Maroon's posts, and paul's)
I come to Hacker News to learn new things. I agree that it's amusing; I disagree that it's useful.
If I saw this on Digg, I would digg it. If I saw it on Reddit, I would grumble to myself about the direction Reddit has taken in the past year and ignore it. Instead, I see it on Hacker News, and I, too, want to downvote it.
If Hacker News is really "stuff, plus anything that has to do with the internet," it might as well not exist.
The reason that I think it is actually useful is that although joe six pack may think that facebook, myspace, friendster and second life are all social networks and therefore the same type of product, it is clear that small differences in product management have led to big differences in the real world outcomes.
For example: facebook/myspace (real names/screennames)
second life / facebook /friendster (imagined identity vs real identity)
myspace/facebook (self expression through profile hacks and bling/facebook apps)
In addition, I think that the actual products when verbalised, sound quite ridiculous. However, they have been enormously successful. There is a lesson there.
Finally, the video showed me how fragile the social network space really is as the cycles of innovation change. My perspective has shifted from that of a facebook fanboy to a FB hater a la Matt Maroon, and I now think that facebook is much more vulnerable that anyone would have thought 12 months ago. This video reinforced that for me.
Apologies to those who felt antagonistic towards seeing this here. I think that it eloquently sums up what is often discussed on blogs like Matt's, but in a much more visual way.
