NB. This is part two of a two-part post. Read part one here.

I was explaining how, sitting here today, it is difficult to see why anyone would want to sign up to a social network that isn’t Facebook.

While MySpace used to be the market leader, it was always far too annoying and buggy to remain on the radar for long. Every time I visit MySpace I just get bombarded with spam. Most friend requests are either from awful bands, fake people or are just plain spam. Visiting MySpace is like wading through a thick, stinking swamp. With pink glittery things in it.

By contrast, I don’t recall ever seeing a single piece of spam on Facebook. Not even a spammy friends request.

As for Bebo, at least you can say they are not just burying their heads in the sand. I never really saw what Bebo had going for it, apart from being slightly less worse than MySpace. But that’s not saying much. They have recently launched a minor redesign, which looks like a desperate attempt to be perceived as Web 2.0.

But Bebo is a pretty tired site now. As I said above, many of the site’s features are now watered-down copies of other websites. Take the “sayings” feature, a recent feature which is a copy of Twitter in every way. Except the Bebo version does not link to your mobile phone, and is generally a bit rubbish.

I guess the “me too” thing is quite clever, but I think it says something about Bebo users if they can’t even think up an original thought. And what is with those Skittles emoticons? Why? They seem immensely popular as well.

My biggest beef with Bebo is the fact that you can’t post a link on your profile. That is the stupidest thing ever. Is not the WWW supposed to be all about links? Even worse, when you just type in a URL, Bebo puts spaces in it to prevent the text from spilling over the narrow columns — so these URLs become broken because of Bebo.

But despite all of these niggles, I don’t think Bebo is in any immediate danger of going south à la MySpace. Bebo attracts a different audience to Facebook. You get a lot more young people there, which you might be able to tell if you clicked the link to the popular sayings above. They won’t be tempted by Facebook at the moment. But what about when they grow up?…

As for LiveJournal… aaah. MatGB’s brilliant post on this matter sums it up (and that was what spurred on many of the thoughts that led to these posts). He thinks LiveJournal is dying, and he is probably right.

The only reason I have a LiveJournal is because I got it years ago, when it was still vaguely popular. One-by-one, my friends that did use it stopped. I can think of only one “real lifer” LJ friend that still posts on LJ. My posting there has slowed to a trickle (once every 2 or 3 months, really) and just about the only person who ever posts comments on my LJ now is MatGB.

When Vox was released, I said that I would probably choose Vox over LJ if I didn’t already have an LJ account. Now it is difficult to think of a website that I would actually prefer to sign up to rather than LJ. Hell, even when MySpace came along, LiveJournal suddenly looked a bit old-hat. Dare I say it’s a Web 1.0 website trying to survive in a Web 2.0 world.

It might be different for me. LiveJournal always seemed to be a bit different. It’s got a community that I just never found myself able to become a part of. For this reason, I reckon LiveJournal will probably keep many of its current users until they die.

But MatGB hit the nail on the head. If you didn’t have a LiveJournal account, why would you sign up for one today? Why would you, when you can sign up to Facebook? Six Apart have pissed off a lot of LJers, and their recent accidental deletion of up to 500 legitimate LiveJournals does little to instil confidence in the people running LiveJournal.

In short, Facebook is in prime position to collect up a huge proportion of the users of social networks. It already attracts all sorts of people who weren’t tempted by MySpace or Bebo. And because of the smart way Facebook has allowed itself to grow, that looks set to continue. At the moment, it is unthinkable that Facebook will drop the ball like Friendster, MySpace and LiveJournal all did.

While the refusal of Facebook to sell out to Yahoo! for $1bn might be seen as arrogance, on the other hand I think Facebook are really clever not just to become another one of those companies that gets bought by Yahoo! / Google / Microsoft / eBay.

I get the feeling that a lot of the Web 2.0 startups that have been sold to larger companies have become a little bit fusty. I no longer see the appeal in Flickr at all, and when was the last time you saw something new from del.icio.us?

I get the impression that for too many startups, their entire business model is based on crossing their fingers and hoping that Google buys them. I mean, where does Twitter get all its money from? Eh?

Facebook is ambitious, and it’s willing to stand on its own two feet. That’s really admirable. And while I’m not an expert in either technology or betting, who is to say that Facebook won’t be one of the web’s very biggest companies in a couple of years time?

Update: Forgot to include a link to this post from a former social networks-skeptic who has joined Facebook.

Update: Would usually del.icio.us this, but it is quite salient to this post, so: Wisdump: The Ebb and Flow of Social Networking.

The other day I came across another interesting website from Spatial Literacy (you know them, they did that Surname Profiler). With this new website you type in your postcode and it tells you where you fit into ‘e-Society‘ (via Ben Metcalfe).

Apparently people in my postcode fall into categories “D : E for entertainment and shopping” and “D12 : Small time net shoppers”.

Group D : E for entertainment and shopping

This Group includes a number of moderately well paid blue collar workers for whom the Internet and personal computing provide important leisure activities. This Group tends to use the Internet not for obtaining information about products or for learning, but rather to provide access to music, games and general entertainment. People in this Group are smart enough to learn new methods of accessing what they want but they are not necessarily interested in technology for its own sake. Besides providing a form of personal relaxation they also see the computer as a resource for family entertainment…

Type D12 : Small time net shoppers

This Type comprises many younger and middle aged men who particularly rely upon the Internet to buy music, books and videos. They are also active Internet purchasers of computer games and of fashion wear. This Type is happy to undertake a wide variety of transactions on the Internet but tends not to be professionally involved in the development of information technology when at work.

It’s all true. There are no decent music shops around here, you see. So I buy a lot of CDs from the internet.

Internet shopping has its dangers though. On the plus side there are no bored / suspicious shopkeepers who pry on your every move. But you never physically see what you’re buying. This makes accidentally ordering an LP instead of a CD is a clumsy click away.

I thought I had got past that stage. I almost always double- and triple-check which format I’m buying. I was looking forward to receiving the goods that I had ordered from Boomkat’s fine summer campaign. But today I woke up to find a 12″×12″ parcel. Doh! I must have been rushing too much when I ordered it.

It’s not that I dislike vinyl. I don’t hesitate to buy a record if it has come out on vinyl only. I do own a turntable, but it’s hardly audiophile stuff. It plays everything too fast. You wouldn’t know unless you had already heard the track. It doesn’t feel faster, but the pitch is noticeably higher. Which is a bit of a pain.

I discovered that I can change the speed of my MP3s in Audacity, but it’s takes bloody ages. Plus I have got used to simply owning my whole music collection on CD with the exception of vinyl-only releases. All of my vinyl tends to be of obscure Team Doyobi 7 inches and Analords and whatnot. Hanne Hukkelberg will stick out like a sore thumb!

Plus, as I say, my record player is crap — I tend to avoid it if I possibly can because listening to it is like looking at a blurry photograph.

So now I have a dilemma on my hands. I could just send the album back and ask to exchange it for the CD, but that’s a pain for several reasons. Firstly, for whatever reason, the CD is actually £1 more expensive than the LP. Then there is the cost of postage (if I understand the explanation on their website, the Royal Mail would make 385 pretty pennies?!?). Add on top of that the plain old hassle of sending it back, and I’m really not sure I can be bothered.

But there it is. A mint, unopened record that I don’t really want. I could sell it on eBay and buy the CD separately. But music is so pretty.

I’m selling a spare copy of Squarepusher’s Square Window on eBay if anybody’s interested.

Touts and twats, or, selling a concert ticket does not hurt an African.

Update: You missed the eBay boat, Bob.

Update: The comments to that post make interesting reading.

It’s ironic how easily the fawning media forget that Saint Bob made his name and fortune capitalising on a fatal high school shooting.

A message for Geldof: What would you say if you had known the ebayers selling the tickets on Ebay were poor African people?

Update: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Via).

Godfrey Bloom’s extremely clean fridge has been put up on eBay. Via Times Election Log.