Marc Canter objects to *another* site asking who his friends are - in this case Eurekster, which is out of beta testing and setting itself up as a social search engine that tells you "what's hot with your friends".
"Is there a word for that post-Friendster/Tribe/LinkedIn/SixDegrees oh-god-not-again feeling I'm getting as I read the launch announcement? Like, HTML rug burn? I mean, really -- I haven't played around with eurekster yet, and I mean no disrespect to whoever built the project. But if one more website asks me to "invite all of my friends," I swear I'm gonna f*****g throw up. Invite your own damn friends, you website."
It seems the crass and simplistic application of the social networking meme is starting to generate a backlash ... even from *Marc* !
I totally disagree with this backlash theory. We are going to see lots and lots of variation on how social networks can improve every day applications. Of course, people will decide whether joining and investing time in each one is worth their effort, but there are a lot of ways to leverage social networks for personal and group gain. Here's a great article on how advocacy groups (or anyone doing group research) can use Eurekster:
http://www.network-centricadvocacy.net/2004/01/how_eurekster_w.html
Here's a blog I've started about eurekster. http://eureksterblog.blogspot.com
I am looking for people that are interested in the following topics to join my eurekster network: social software, search engines, online marketing, email marketing and event promotion. Email me at pc4media at hotmail if you are interested.