why I like plaxo more than facebook
December 2, 2007
I use Facebook. I signed up originally to get free music from iTunes. I have a umich address, so it assumed I was a student. It’s ok over there, my friends are there, but I’m not at all into the goofy pirate/ninja/zombie junk. Luckily, most of my friends aren’t either, so I don’t get too bombarded.
I also use Plaxo, which began its life as an online contact organizer. It used to be evil, in that it would spam stuff out to all the people on your contact list. It doesn’t do that anymore. It’s actually pretty cool; you can upload your contact info from gmail or Outlook or whatever, and if it finds other Plaxo users in your list, it will let you request to connect to them. The cool part is that if someone gets a new email address, it gets automatically updated in your list. And if you use their syncronization tool (I use the Mac one now - woooh), it automatically gets updated there, too. Slick!
But Facebook doesn’t try to be a contact organizer, so it’s hard to fault it for that. But both Plaxo and Facebook have a News Feed of sorts, ostensibly to let you know what your friends are up to. Facebook creates it for you and you have some control over what kinds of ’stories’ appear there. With Plaxo, users have to opt in and can choose what things to show in their public news feed (blog posts, Flickr uploads, Twitter messages, Jaiku messages, etc.) And Plaxo whups Facebook’s tail in the quality of what goes into that news stream.
Here’s a list of the last 15 things Facebook thinks are ‘news’ - that is, what I want to know about my friends:
- J. added handclap dancing to their interests.
- T. joined group SI658.
- S. added the Advanced Wall application.
- A. sent a FunWall post to D. (message is not displayed, must click through and add app to read it)
- B. and B. are now friends.
- C. won a movie trivia challenge!
- M. and L. are now friends.
- J. updated their profile. They changed their quotes to “I don’t give a crap.”
- B. and Z. are now friends.
- C. has received a YES! (no explanation, must click through and add app to find out what it is)
- B. added ‘weak ties’ to their interests.
- A., G., I. and K. has received a new FunWall post. (message is not displayed, must click through and add app to read it)
- Blockbuster has an exclusive office. (sponsored)
- T. added the US Presidents application
- C. and C. are now friends
Here’s the last 15 entries in the Plaxo ‘Pulse’ (their version of the news feed):
- J. posted to Twitter. (the whole message is displayed - I’ll omit it here for brevity and privacy - but the content is right in the feed)
- L. posted a blog entry. (the title, an excerpt and a link are displayed)
- A. connected to S.
- L. posted on Twitter. (again, message is displayed - no clickthrough necessary to read)
- B. connected to A., L., D., T., M., T., J. and W.
- B. posted updated work information (new company, address and phone are displayed)
- J. posted 5 photos to Flickr (thumbnails are displayed)
- J1. posted on Twitter. (message is displayed - no clickthrough necessary to read)
- J. posted on Twitter. (message is displayed - no clickthrough necessary to read)
- J2. posted on Twitter. (message is displayed - no clickthrough necessary to read)
- L. posted on Twitter. (message is displayed - no clickthrough necessary to read)
- J. connected to H.
- J. posted a blog entry. (the title, an excerpt and a link are displayed)
- C. connected to A.
- L. posted on Twitter. (message is displayed - no clickthrough necessary to read)
Now, my network there is small, but the news items actually contain content! I can see what people are writing about, what they’re taking pictures of, what they’re twittering about, and can get updated contact information. It actually functions as a ‘life stream’ aggregator for my friends. But what does Facebook give me? ‘Information’ that doesn’t really tell me anything about what’s going on in my friends’ lives. Do I really care what Facebook apps my friends have added? Maybe on a slow Friday afternoon when I’m looking for a distraction, but otherwise, not really.
Plaxo would be so so cool if more people used it. The Pulse feature is just barely on the threshold of interesting with my current teeny tiny network; it would be so cool if there were more items in the feed. So c’mon over. Sign up. Add in the websites you use (Twitter, Del.icio.us, Flickr, etc.) Then connect to me (it’s my nickname at gmail). I swear it’s better than Facebook. Really. You can even use OpenID if that’s your thing.
Laura, you gave me just the excuse I was looking for to vaporize my Facebook account. I’ve been updating my LinkedIn profile regularly but missed the peeping-Tom–style newsfeeds that FB gave. After regulating my FB sessions to once-in-a-blue-moon, I found the newsfeeds weren’t really that special after all.
I first read about Plaxo on someone else’s blog last year, but never thought to sign up then. After reading your blog, it sounds like the thing I’m looking for.
Take care,
-Tony
I’m glad it was helpful to you, and I do hope you’re enjoying it. I was overwhelmed by the number of my friends who decided to give it a try - my news feed is really awesome over there now.
Mind you, there are no goofy Friday afternoon timewasters at Plaxo, but I think I’m ok with that. I can go waste time at Facebook, but when I want to really do something, like catch up with my friends’ activities, I’ll do it out on the open web at places like Plaxo.
Hey, folks. I run marketing at Plaxo and wanted to reach out to say how much your post and comments mean to the team here. We are really trying to build something new and useful, open, and web-wide. If you ever have any questions or feedback, don’t hesitate to email me. I’m john at plaxo dot com.
plaxo, facebook, myspace, tribe, what difference does it all make? each portal is just a networking tool in which some have advantages over the other. admittedly, myspace has been in the catch up game for almost a year now, but my beef is this:
what’s the point of switching to plaxo if six months from now a better portal comes along (because it IS going to happen)? i know we’re in the age of keeping up with technology but a few advantages turns into bandwagoning, and once everyone rides in on the new portal, people will complain that it doesn’t do this or it does too much of that. then x-book or whatever you want to call it will come round, and we’ll all just jump ship to that. what we really need is a SKYPE-face-space-book, something one source that connects all of your different networks to one place. like a rss for troubled nomads.
I found FaceBook annoying, too, but probably for different reasons. I felt rather old (I’m 35) when I used it (I feel that way w/ My Space, sometimes). I will give Plaxo a try though! Thanks for the info!
:)