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I mean, I'm on Facebook. Or whatever we're calling it these days. Yes, I gave in.
And I'm totally addicted, and I love it. I mean, I'm still convinced that someday we're all going to regret the day we signed up, but until then, when we all realize we've made a horrible mistake, and Facebook somehow owns us, our bank accounts, and our souls, it's crazy fun, crazy useful, and crazy addictive.
I've even got my first Facebook rule, which is: If you friend request me, and I can find you in a high school yearbook (obvi that would be one of *my* high school year books!), you're in. My friends, I have even scanned some old high school musical pictures - something I feel drawn to do for hours and hours and hours, but I can't spend that kinda time, of course, so I did it once for an hour. And I want more!
Blogosphere peeps are harder - Trying to remember/decide if I really know someone or want to add them. People I network with in the entertainment industry are challenging, too. I meet *lots* of peeps, so I'm trying to keep it under control.
For the most part, I ignore the applications. There's one where you can give grip equipment (sandbags, sharpie, clamps), and that tickles me. But your drinks, your fishes, your plants... Just keep 'em to yourself. I did accept a "mistletoe kiss" the other day. I figured, hey, it's a kiss, I'll take it, even if it is virtual!
The other day I wondered, do you get a prize if every single one of your exes is a Facebook friend? I've still got a few to go...
One thing I didn't do, I haven't listed my fav books, movies, music. I'm kinda over that, and reading my lists on my MySpace is like looking at a snapshot from two years ago. I do like becoming a "fan" on Facebook. I like saying "Hey, I like that!" and then your friends see that you've done it and some of them do it, too.
Funnest thing on Facebook? When totally disparate people from totally different times & parts of your life become fans of the same thing on the same day. Trippy.
I also didn't say what I'm "looking for" from Facebook, i.e. "friends, networking, yada yada yada." That seems unnecessary and oldschool, too.
I did feel a bit overwhelmed a few days in by the influx of blasts from the past. It's not the volume of information, either - I mean, we're all learning to deal with that. Rather, it's how Facebook facilitates conversation with so many people who generations of people before us would have lost completely. I mean, before, you might have run into an old acquaintance from high school maybe once or twice in a lifetime - now I regularly have chats with them and other old high school classmates chime in. It's trippy.
I find myself wondering about how in early America if someone moved out West, you probably never saw them again. Maybe you got the occasional letter. And then, transportation evolved dramatically and that changed. And it changed us.
Now, we have the ability to keep up with hundreds of people from the entirety of our lives, and I can't help but think that that has to be changing us, too. It's really interesting to me.
Finally, the romantic status updates are killing me. To see a friend's engagement mere lines before another's breakup. And those hearts! The broken heart is so, so sad! I'm still deciding how I feel about the transparency of all that.
It is *really* interesting how the tech and dynamics of Facebook kick online social networking to a new level. Interesting, overwhelming, fun, gratifying.
And near impossible not to find yourself saying, "OMG, you *have* to get on Facebook!"
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Linky Goodness:
The Facebook ‘Relationship Status’ Symbol - from Sarah Crowley on iePlexus, an article about this whole declaring your relationship status business. She runs through the "Facebook-related" crimes as well.
Love in the time of Facebook - from La Diva, what all those relationship statuses *really* mean.
Exclusive! - A hilarious little post from Amy at Nelson Nonsense updating her family/friends on what she's been able to find out about a status change on Facebook.
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Contributing editor Liz Rizzo also blogs at Everyday Goddess.
