Net4Mac: Social Networking for Apple Lovers

I downloaded Net4Mac this weekend to see what it was all about. As a long time Mac user (there is still a working Apple IIe kicking around my parents' house) and social web writer, I was excited to see a network of fellow Apple heads. With high hopes that the other users on the network would not be the kind of Apple user everyone hates (the cult-like unquestioning “followers” that turn so many off of switching from Windows to Mac), I logged in.

Right away I was a bit put off by the fact that you were forced to download the application in order to use it. To me that is no where near true to the social web. There is no reason the application creators couldn't have made it a web page instead of taking up hard drive space, or make it something that worked inside of another client, like Adium. The makers of Net4Mac lost serious points for that, a major flaw in this era of online web applications.

The other step in the application process that put me off the application was the “credential” phase. As I was signing up, I was immediately required to list my Apple gadgets, as if I needed to establish some sort of Apple “cred” within the community. I love all of my Apple gadgets, but the need to list them smacked of the offensively Apple centric attitude I was hoping to avoid. I listed my Macs, my iPods and other gadgets and was finally granted entry into Net4Mac.

I was immediately underwhelmed by the interface. Perhaps because it was aimed at Mac users, and exclusive to Mac users, and involved so many Mac centric questions in sign up, I was expecting it to be more… Mac like in look and feel. Instead it is very bland. Don't get me wrong, the look is very clean, it just doesn't have that “wow” factor that most things this tied to the Apple concept cause people to expect.

The application gives users a place to post or join groups and events, complete with a front page time line showing recent user activity and new events and groups posted. It also offers a profile you can edit, a way to make friends and socialize with them, groups, events (it would be nice if these integrated with iCal, but they don't), classified ads, a way to send and receive messages, a chat interface, and search.

While the application may not be what I expected, but the people using it so far are quite nice and more than ready to make new contacts in the Apple using world. One nice thing about the application was being able to talk about Mac issues and events without having to argue the never ending point of why we chose Mac over Windows or Linux. I've also been seeking new ways to meet people who share my interested off line, and the events feature is a nice way to find Mac meet ups I can attend without traveling across the country to do so.

Overall, I'd prefer it if the application moved to an online interface instead of a download that takes up resources on my already taxed MacBook. With many applications already running for my day to day work as a writer, I see myself only logging in to Net4Mac once in a while to check in and socialize - I just can't spare the space while also running FireFox with Tab Mix Plus (often with 100s of tabs open), Thunderbird, Adium, Twitter client Twhirl (where I get most of my news these days), Ecto, Endo, Grab or Skitch and iTunes. Even with these drawbacks, I do see myself staying on the social network - it seems to be a useful resource for the serious Apple user.