Saturday, May 10, 2008

Social Networks and Personal Information (Birthdays)

So last month I celebrated another birthday but this one was different!

Not including my new Canon EOS40D, the extraordinary thing was the amount of "Happy Birthday" wishes I received this year. In particular the amount from Social Networks like Facebook and Twitter.
This started a discussion with a wide variety of friends on what can facebook and social networks really do that is valuable!


Social Networks


Facebook makes it very easy to remember your friends birthdays - its right in front in a news feed. What is also intersting is the amount of friends that regularly log in to facebook.


Instant Messaging


More friends ping me on MSN + Yahoo Messengers.


Mobile Phone & SMS


Throughout the day my phone would ring with mates wishing me happy birthday - question: what do they use to remind them?


Email


A few more send me an email wishing me happy birthday.


Face to Face


And then friends I over the week wished me happy birthday. Obviously they have my birthday in a calendar somewhere.



I know for a long time I tried to store my close friends birthdays in my phone and sync it with Outlook.