It’s raining again!
Are you on Facebook? If no, why not? If yes – how do you feel about it? Is it like mini-blogging, or just an extended 21st century version of the telephone book?
Put your answer in a comment, or if you prefer to expand on the topic in a blog post of your own, give me a link. (I’m not going to bother about introducing Mr Linky, considering the rather limited number of people who usually do comment!) I’d really appreciate your input, even though it might come a bit late… I already took the plunge! Although considering the whole sea of people out there, I guess what I have so far is really just a puddle. (Ha. I managed to connect to the picture, after all.)
It started with one or two friends inviting me to join. (I wanted to write ‘nagging’ me to join, but to be fair, I suppose that would be an exaggeration. I think one of them asked me twice!) Anyway, some time back in the summer I hesitatingly started an account. I got as far as finding my way to the inviting friend, but then I didn’t really have the time to check out the details. Wall? Profile? Messages? “Like this”? Who can see what?? Do I want to be seen at all??? Phew…
So two or three months passed before I even logged in again. Oops… Unread messages, and friend requests! (Because of my hesitations, I had created a separate email account just for Facebook. And I had not entered that account again either since the start.)
Getting a bit of a guilty conscience about the two people I had left “dangling”, I tried to make amends this weekend, with a more serious effort to get the hang of it all. Well. The basics, anyway.
It’s kind of hard getting the hang of it from just two friends, though. - Or is it…? Four days later, I’m up to nine; and through those, a considerable number of mutual acquaintances and strangers (friends of friends, in Facebook terminology) have also made their mysterious appearances on my screen.
Every so often now Bella (my laptop, remember?) says to me: “Hey, here’s someone else you might know!” And surprisingly often, she’s right in her assumptions. I don’t know how she does it!
I think, though, that the balance between ghosts from the past and random suggestions of complete strangers may have been somewhat evened out now by addition of a couple of people who each have about 500 other friends (of whom I do know some, but far from all 500).
I’m still hovering between fascinated and spooked. I can see how one can get caught up in it. It’s like a never-ending extended version of a family tree. Just keep digging, and somewhere down the line you’re bound to even find Adam and Eve!
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The pictures in this post are all from last week.
No photo weather today!
6 comments:
Let me try again! I like Facebook. I keep my "list" limited, and so it's a great, non-overwhelming way to stay in touch with distant friends and family. Invaluable for someone like me!
Beautiful pictures!! What are those sweet little yellow flowers? Yes, last year I joined Facebook, do you want to Friend me? Ha ha!! But seriously, I'm on there, and have at least one or two bloggers as friends! When I was first learning Facebook, I would stay up all night long! And I commented on every move I made! And commented to every friend. It sucks your time down a black hole! It is real good for keeping touch with lots of people, though, and seeing what everyone is saying about everyone else! But, I found the comments to be too restrictive, you have to stay under a certain amount of words. So I chose to devote my time to my blog, where I could just chatter on and on and on....the like or don't like is for when you don't have time to write a comment, just click LIKE or DON'T LIKE and that lets them know you have read it.
Rae: Yes for "someone like you" ;) I can well imagine it very helpful. Had FB been available back in my twenties and thirties it would probably have been a natural thing for me to keep in touch with people that way, too. It is the time gap without such contact that makes it feel a bit strange now.
Ginny: "It sucks your time down a black hole!" Yes, I can see the potential danger... ;) Thanks for the warning!
That's an interesting question, Monica. I have been on Facebook for some years (although I changed my persona and details a couple of years ago). Time confuses me so much I can't really put a timescale to these things.
I find it useful to keep up with some people I know and see what they are doing and send messages occasionally. I look at it briefly most days but rarely write on my wall or comment on the writings of others.
Like you I created an email address solely for Facebook (I use separate email addresses for many things) so anyone trying to find me using one of my friends or family or other emails is unlikely to find me. It never ceases to amaze me, hiowever, how easy it is to find all the details of almost anyone in the UK and, I understand, it's the same in the US.
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