Social networks are wonderful things. I have been able to keep up with my cousin’s who are spread across the country, reconnect with old high school and college friends, but they also generate a lot of noise. Being a joiner, I know that I am partly to blame for the amount of noise I get, but still the systems generate a ton of messages that I don’t care about.

Noise lives somewhere between spam, bacn and messages I want to get. Just like I try and reduce the amount of email I have, I would ideally like less noise.

Example

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Here is the problem with the “news” I am getting. Most of the “news” items, I do not care for: What applications are added, who becomes friends with whom, profile changes. Frankly, I don’t care.

Facebook offers privacy features that control how my information is distributed, but not the information that is incoming. Some people I am passing acquaintances with, I don’t care who they become friends with, isn’t there a way I can rank them a “Friend -1″ or “Friend +1″?

The other issue I have with Facebook is the way people “invite” me to use applications. This is spamming, out and out. If I already have the application, then great, I want to know people whom I have classified as “friends” who also have the application. Otherwise, don’t show me “invites,” I’ll add whatever applications I want, not the other way around.

You may be thinking: Jered turn off notifications, you don’t have to get these messages. I have. I am running silent. The way I get notification is when I login.

So, if you are a “friend” on a social network, please do not “invite” me to an application. I won’t invite you, because even if you are an acquaintance, I respect you a little more than that.

I have always loved the library, the smell of the paper, the love of the rows and rows of books, a complete lack of understanding of the Dewey Decimal System. I think it has been about a year since I set foot in a library, which is sad.

Why this talk of libraries and dead tree books?

I have been asked by a former co-worker to teach a series of classes about MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and the general web 2.0/social network scene.

I am really excited (and slightly nervous) about this and it really means that I have to brush up on my MySpace. Oh boy.

I guess the library isn’t just about the dead trees any more.