Facebook

On the Fourth of July I decided to "get a facebook."  I'd heard scary things about the lack of privacy on Facebook, but wanted to try it for myself.  I entered all the information required to create an account and then felt a chill of horror when I saw my full name, birth date, location and email address pop up on the screen. What have I done?  I'd spent so much effort being anonymous during the Explorations that seeing identifying information posted was a shock.   When I was done freaking out, I realized that the whole point of Facebook is to network with real people as a real person. After all, my husband has a facebook and it hasn't sent any crazed stalkers after him.  So I calmed down and ran downstairs to ask my husband to be my friend.

For a while I had no friends other than my husband. He informed me that having no friends was pathetic. My brother, to my astonishment, is on Facebook, and at our Fourth of July party he agreed to be my friend. Apparently he rarely checks his facebook, however, because he still has not confirmed me as a friend. (I guess it is the thought that counts.) In the following days, some of my husband's friends became my friends, and I've acquired quite a few library friends. In fact, the easiest way to get friends is to glom on to the friends of others.  By using this strategy, I am catching up with my husband on my number of friends!

I played around with the search feature and actually found a real life friend with whom I'd lost contact about 4 years ago. And a friend from high school recently found me. So far, I haven't emailed my re-discovered friends, and they haven't emailed me. It makes me wonder: if we are "friends" on Facebook, are we really still friends? Should we make more of an effort? Is it too easy to coast along in Facebook?

Tonight my husband gave me a lesson on adding applications to my facebook.  How people got the little games and quizzes on their pages was a mystery to me. My husband calls Facebook a giant time waster.  He prefers the immediacy of Twitter, and I must say I agree with him.  Still, I might add a few photos and become a fan of some favorite authors.  I've written on some walls and some friends wrote on mine.  One even sent me a space alien greeting.  Is this all really cool or really dumb?  Not sure. . . .

Anyway, time to check my facebook.  Who wrote on my wall today?  Do I have new friends? I hate to admit it, but Facebook might be a just a tiny bit fun. Sorry I can't share my Facebook with you--must remain anonymous.