Giving Hi5 Two Thumbs Down

Way back ... last summer, I first blogged about social networking Internet websites. It was a small reference to an online article at the time. I'd just swapped a gmail invitation for a chance to join orkut. Of course, I haven't logged since that time. Most of my friends and family aren't nerdy, clever, or trendy enough (depending on one's perspective).

Hey, I don't find it difficult keeping up, but have the maturity to ignore things that don't matter to my world. For example, my cell phone ... is just that ... only a phone. It doesn't take pictures, it doesn't play mp3s, it doesn't even contain any playable games. Oh, I forgot, and it weighs about 3 pounds! Yet, I don't need to keep up with the Jones' phones.

Anyway, I'd not been sucked into friendster.com, nor its software ilk. Yet yesterday, I got an invite for hi5 - Who's in? from a friend. "What the heck," I thought, "I'll fill it out." Little did I know that it would snatch one of my address books and send out invitations to everybody! That was very rude as I did not grant my permission. Technorati confirmed I'm not the only one who's upset either. Hi5 is not building a framework that's going to create much good will!

So, sorry ... friends if you got some recent email which you had to ignore. It was just more junk from Dennis ... AGAIN! But, wait. Even after all this has been said, I just might keep logging on.



PS. This photo was copied from splash screen of the hi5 website. Why
aren't my friends all drop-dead gorgeous babes and hunky studs?