New social media tools, same old lesson: moderation

By David Chartier |

We can “tweet” our rants in 140 SMS-friendly characters on Twitter, make some friends while posting our resume to LinkedIn, and stay on top of every last byte of activity those friends publicize on Friendfeed and Facebook. As with all uncharted territories, these and other social media (a.k.a., web 2.0) services have attracted enthusiastic users, service evangelists, and dismissive critics. Some say Twitter and LinkedIn are the future, while others label them fads or time-sinks and question whether they are of any use whatsoever. Thing is, they may both be right.

The debate over the utility of key social media services reared its head again through some recent articles that question the amount of time we spend with them, and whether we’re getting anything in return. LinkedIn, a combination job board, social network, and idea exchange used by 30 million members, may not actually lead to many jobs, according to BusinessWeek. Through a few anecdotes involving job loss and connections made through the service, the piece suggests that LinkedIn is, at best, a therapeutic social exercise in depressing economic times.

Continues @ http://arstechnica.com/