The future of Regional Networks
If you are a member of Facebook you will know they are going to drop Regional Networks. Their argument is that to provide the level of privacy users now demand they need to remove a feature which, in my view, provided a great attraction. The argument goes … “Almost 50 percent of all Facebook users are members of regional networks …”, but this doesn’t matter to so we have come up with a “plan” and this is “to remove regional networks completely …”. Huh?
I don’t get this, how is something that was used by 50% of users a bad thing?
Personally I think Regions are an important feature that defines a community, even virtual ones. True I share interests which cross global boundaries, but I also share interests which can only be expressed in social interaction, and in ‘locally focused’ world, this means shared with people who live close by. To me, some of the most interesting aspects of Facebook were the local groups I found by accident, because they were local. With the removal of regions, how will I find these now?
This naturally brings me to the role WalesCymru has, or should have. Are we a regionally focused Social Network? Should we be?
This was the ambition we had in 2007, but is still some way off. Should this be pursued as our goal now, or should Regional Networks, as Facebook thinks, be consigned to the past?
What do you think?
Tags: Facebook, Regional Networks, social networks