Social Tuesday - Facebook the Unused Network

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Gosh that sounds harsh I know. The purpose of this post is not to slam you with data like I have in the past. If you want the data its: HERE HERE HERE & HERE

There is also: 

A Nifty Infographic from Ingrid Abboud's NittyGriddyBlog from Saturday.

Joseph Jaffe explaining Left Brain vs Right Brain for Facebook's $50b value

Chis Baccus discussing the Failure of Like

What I see in the news is big numbers in aggregate, but small numbers when broken down per user. On a per user level Facebook incredibly underwhelms. 600 million users who log in once per month sounds AWESOME. But we only know half log in each day. And only 30-40% do any actions when they log in (Like, Comment, Update Status). What if the other half logged in once per month? Then really it's a 300 million user network. The news always has these amazing numbers in total and no one ever breaks them down to see what they mean. And since Facebook benefits from this opaqueness with mystical aura and with up to 45% of the world suckers because of their DNA (myers-briggs), there are plenty of people who would invest in Facebook just like everyone who got suckered by the dot.com and housing bubbles.

But when it comes to Social Media Technology and Human Communication what does having such an underused network mean? 

Is it the interface? Is it unwieldy? Or is there something more primal with us the people? I can build a network and claim a ton of things. And I can cherry pick data to spin rosy images of success. But is it human nature or technology that is the stumbling block?

I view Facebook still as Social 1.0. Maybe 1.2 because they basically fixed the bugs of Myspace. But none of the initiatives they have rolled out: Open Graph, Brand Pages, Places, Deals, Events, Video etc are used enough to claim a success. Is it because the network is bad or do we just not wish to connect as much as the people who benefit from the 'Aura' want us to believe.

If Social Media Technology is a Bubble and it crashes and we stop being as interested who loses? Social Media Rockstars who give talks and write books, Mashables and every Blogger or Journalist that only covers Social Media, Social Media focused Agencies and all the Guru's, certain Venture Capitalists, and of course the people who are working in Social Media Technology Start Ups. Who creates the news we watch, read, and hear? This group! Who gets hurt the most by Facebook the unused network? This group!

Is it Technology or Human Nature? I am curious to know the answer.