3.03.2009

The Dark Side

Ok I did it. I succumbed. I joined Facebook.

In truth I didn't just join because everyone else is, but more particularly because I have a couple of friends who kept insisting that joining would help us keep in touch better. I wasn't entirely convinced by their argument and tried to convince them that blogging was a better way of keeping in tough but to no avail. So I decided that I would cross over and check it out--in partial hopes of strengthening my argument that they should cross over to blogging.

So I signed in and I've got to say that Facebook is creepy! At first I wasn't going to invite any friends until I had it figured out so I just skipped through that part of registration but even while skipping that part Facebook tried to suggest some friends and up popped one of Nemesis' sisters--who I only know vaguely. How???

Anyway, eventually I made it into my page on Facebook and found myself so confused at what to do (do I get to pick my own colors, layout--no? why? what do I do here then?) that I picked a couple friends so that I could see what they do on their pages. And may I just say that the speed with which some of you have accepted me as friends has frightened me--flattered as well but mostly frightened.

Then after perusing a few pages I settled in to work on my page. First off was to write something on my page so I clicked on the "what are you doing right now" bar and got ready to write. But then I didn't have anything to write. What was I doing right then? Obviously I was looking at my Facebook page. And pretty much that is what I will be doing every time I go to write something. If I ever get really connected I could see this option being a bit fun to add to via a mobile devise, but until then its literalistness doesn't work for me. Once I got myself through this conundrum I decided to create a few apps to show off my favorite movies, music, and books (only the lists aren't really complete because I got tired and bored--especially with the movies). And then I was done. What else do you do on Facebook?

Actually at this point I headed over to select a few friends and was again creeped out at how well Facebook could figure out who I might be friends with (I'm still working through all this so if I haven't invited you to be a friend come find me). But it was here that I faced the largest conundrum. It started with potential friends from high school. I stared at the page for a minute trying to decide if I wanted to reach out across the Internet and ask some person who I haven't seen or talked to in over 10 years to be my friend. I decided no. I mean really, if someone were to do this in real life we would just find it odd and a bit scary. Just imagine it: someone you vaguely recognize walks up to you and says "will you be my friend?" What do you say to that? Probably "sure." But then what? Do you make plans to get together everyday after work? If you can't imagine it look up 'Facebook in real life' on Youtube (thanks Science Teacher Mommy).

I eventually made it through that minefield, invited some friends, and sat back and watched in amazement as you accepted me as your friend. At first I was feeling pretty good about the number of friends I was amassing and then I checked out how many friends some of my friends had: 183; 248; etc. How on earth do you keep track of all those people? And if I am only 1 of 248 friends how will this system keep us in better touch?

So, in short, even though my involvement thus far as been brief, I am fully prepared to say blogging is way better. I get to choose my colors, my layout, write really rambling posts, and most of all check out your colors, layouts, and posts. All of these things inspire me. Facebook does not inspire me--but it might be a bit of fun.

3 comments:

Rachel said...

I wholeheartedly agree with you. Facebook has turned into one more thing for me to check. Basically, I've found a few friends from high school that I wanted to check up on. From there, I've gotten their blogs!! Overall, I'm not a big fan.

Unknown said...

Haven't ventured over, but your blog has me laughing, and feeling more committed to staying on THIS side of the fence
:)

Jen said...

I'm with you. And I've seen that little You Tube video. Very funny.