Life Blood (Part 2)
May 20, 2007
Thanks for your kind wishes, cards, flowers, prayers and thoughts over the last month. Tomorrow it’ll be 5 weeks since the operation. I’ve gone through so many feelings, emotions and heartache but have pretty much completely come through the other side now and looking forward again to what the future holds.
I have found some new sites (for me) which have been a great source of help over the last little while. The internet is amazing - the connections you can make, the people who can share their stories and can be supportive along the journey with you. It reminds me of how powerful online communities can be for people at different points in their lives. It encourages me once again how blogging, forums and the like are helping people communicate with each other all around the world and designing them is a worthwhile thing to be doing.
Aside from topic-specific sites that I’ve found useful, I’ve recently discovered Facebook. It is still practically unheard of here in New Zealand as Bebo is the most popular social networking hub, followed by MySpace.
The little designer-snob in me finds MySpace and Bebo so frustrating. The errors I get on MySpace are endless, let alone the number of clicks I have to do in order to achieve anything, the difficulty in organising my “friends” or remembering who on earth they are, the hard-to-read pages, the spam comments… need I go on? Oh, and privacy seems to be minimal by default on MySpace. I tried so hard to get into the MySpace world which others talked about endlessly, but I failed. I decided just to go there to listen to music, to search for a long-lost friend and see what they were up to if I was bored.. and that’s about it.
Bebo is similar. All the kids I know are on there and their pages are usually just as hard to read. It’s less buggy than MySpace, and seems a bit more user-friendly.. but I’m just not hooked on it. It’s scary reading messages kids are sending each other. I could find out a lot of info about people, without doing anything but read their Bebo comments.
Facebook, however, has such a clean and simple design. It’s easy to use, easy to organize your friends, great for tagging of photos (one of the only times I’ve gotten really into tagging), and privacy seems to be more important. So I’ve gotten a little hooked recently on Facebook. I’ve caught up with long-lost friends and enjoyed the connections via Facebook.
But is the design that important? Or is it the people? Or is it both? With people constantly saying “MySpace is so 2006″ when talking about Bebo here, I realised that it’s firstly about the people. Social networking sites fail without lots of your friends being on there too. But it’s also about being the cool place to hang out, a place that works, a place that is easy to use.
Facebook, the first social networking site I may just be getting hooked on using 
Dear Rachel,
It’s great to hear that you’ve come through a major challenge in your life. If you are looking for a social network which offers a bit more than the usual why not have a look at Zaadz? It’s http://www.zaadz.com
It’s for people looking for a slightly more conscious experience.
Blessings
Raf
— Raf, May 20, 2007
Rachel, for the ‘little designer-snob in you’, you really should take a look at Virb.com
For fear of jumping on the bandwagon, it really is social networking done right in my and many other peoples opinion. There are some excellant examples of profiles on there and a great number of creative groups have sprung up. Checkit out.
— Ben Bishop, May 22, 2007
Hi Rachel, I’m really glad that you’re feeling better, prayers still with you, God has awesome things in the future for you and Regan, I’m sure.
I agree on facebook! I’m hooked totally, it’s simple and easy and doesn’t feel like a children’s playground.
— Pete, May 22, 2007
Hey Rachel , Glad to see your feeling better! remember to always stay positive.
xx
— Jessica, May 23, 2007
Rachel:
Sadly, it had been ages since I last looked at your blog. Then, tonight, I see this. I’m glad that you’re feeling better. You will be in my prayers.
God bless!
Mark Daniels
— Mark Daniels, May 23, 2007
Rachel… my prayers are with you and your husband.
— Rachel, May 25, 2007
Rachel,
See post May 27 on CK-blog.com.
Just keep on reading those great sites and connect to other people on the net and you will be feeling better and better. Facebook is also on my radar now. Fun to connect with all people with last name Hannink.
Also see what blog friends can do for you
Regards,
Erno
— Erno Hannink, May 28, 2007
Hello! Good Site! Thanks you! xdjklcozzmh
— tddcmvurtc, June 24, 2007
Hello! Good Site! Thanks you! svwoumbkcs
— mbruxiirlb, June 25, 2007
MySpace is hated by designers all over. We have a lot of trouble finding people to design for myspace.
— design for myspace, June 30, 2007
I found your website via ProBlogger and just wanted to say I am so sorry to hear of your loss. A fellow “work at home mum” I know (online) has just recently started a new website called http://www.missingyou.co.nz which you may find of interest. All the best.
— Jacinta, July 4, 2007
Hey Rachel!
Hope you feel ok now and wish you to recover ASAP!
Could you please check my Russian http://teqspotter.ru to give me some professional advise. Who knows, maybe I will become your client!
Thanks, Sergy
— Sergy, July 31, 2007
Yup, I agree about Facebook, and thanks heaps for the invite - it was just the stimulus I needed to get into it. I’d had friends and colleagues raving about it, but thought “oh yeah, here we go again”. It’s great to discover all those things you mentioned - the clean look, the functionality and the universality of it. Yay!
— Larraine, August 3, 2007
You wouldn’t know me because I have only commented once on your blog… but I do lurk and visit often. I do hope you get to feeling better.
BTW - I agree about facebook!
— Donovan, August 10, 2007