Chinesepod, Twitter, and Social Networking

These days I rarely write blog entries that express an opinion about a subject or that are of the typical "blog" type. My blog entries have been directed towards my family and friends and are rarely directed towards the "Internet" (although I fully understand they are on the Internet). Today is a bit different.

This morning I received an email from Twitter that ChinesePod was following me. This isn't the first time I've been "followed" by a non-real person. Its probably the 1,000th time to be honest but this is the "follow" that pushed me over the edge and it really has to do with the whole social-networking web 2.0 madness that is currently taking over the Internet. I have a Love/Hate relationship with the craziness.

As a person that spends most of his time on the Internet I am incredibly familiar with Web 2.0 and Social Networking craze going on. In fact I would even venture to say that I'm intimately familiar with it as I help create these types of sites, work with those that manage them and know the in/outs of the industry. I love this whole craze because it is creating communities of real people that never would have existed otherwise. People are connecting with other people in ways they never would have thought about and we're all learning more about each other if the web hadn't existed.

In short: I LOVE Social Networking & Web 2.0.

and
I hate Web 2.0 for roughly the same reasons. People are connecting to people they don't know and may never know; which isn't necessarily a bad thing if it weren't for the fact that they are only connecting to connect, instead of connecting to meet. Maybe my "rules" would help explain my position here.

I use Facebook, Linked-In, Twitter as well as others. My rules for accepting an invitation are

1) We should have met face to face and had a meaningful conversation (not simply "hello"). This is not a hard and fast rule though as I've connected to people I've never met in real life

2) There should be a reason for being listed as friends on Facebook/Linked-In/xyz. Maybe we worked on a project together, at the same company, have similar interests, hiked the same path, etc. There should some reasonable assurance that we will meet again in the future, hopefully in person but online can also count.

3) There has to be desire to actually be a friend instead of just an anonymous person on the Internet. Can I crash on your couch? Could I call you up and talk politics one day?

4) You must be real. Pseudo names are cool (ahem: WiredGeek) but what's your real name, what do you look like, where do you live, etc. Life is not virtual.

I will not add you as a friend for the following reasons

A) You saw my site and it looked "cool"

B) I lived in xyz town that you want to live in thus we should be friends

C) You know a friend that has a friend who knows a friend that knows me (we don't know each other though.. lets meet first)

D) We both frequent the same website
etc. etc.

My rules get down to what I think the social networking madness should really be about.

Connecting people. We should use technology to connect people to each other and create real sustainable connections that enhance the quality of our lives.

Getting back to why I was perturbed by ChinesePod following me on twitter my reasons are fairly straightforward. I use twitter as a method to stay in touch with friends and learn more about them as I read their various thoughts/Ideas/Ramblings. I'm interested in what they have to say and I would hope that those following me are also interested in my odd and varied twits.

ChinesePod is a company and not a person. Their twits will be links to their website and response to other twitters. ChinesePod won't be sending out twitter Haikus or twitting as they head to the store. I won't hear about when they move or the hot guy/girl they met the other night. ChinesePod isn't going to ask the twitterverse for a movie recommendation or twit about their chocolate/ginger cravings.

Chinesepod is NOT a person.

If they don't twitter website links maybe they'll be twittering responses to people. Unfortunately twitter is a one-way communication. For example they twitted "@Julesong Sorry, didn't mean to scare you with Chinese characters!" wtf is that? Who is Julesong and what are they responding to. Its as if I were eavesdropping on a telephone conversation but I was only able to hear one person.
How is this connecting anyone, helping anyone or providing any value to the world? Its simply noise.

I really appreciate ChinesePod's attempt at reaching out to their customer base and exploring new ways to connect people together (really I do) but this is not the way.