I know it’s been conference this and conference that around here lately. I’ve got my web hat on and will no doubt soon take it off, put on another hat and resume back to blogging all about the place like I normally do. But I brought the conference up because after the conference my Facebook friends quadrupled, that is I went from three friends to 12. This is why.
When you get added as someone’s friend in Facebook, their friends can see that you’ve been added and then might think, oh well I met or know her, I’ll add her as a friend as well. This can happen at your end too. I added an old work colleague tonight and through that another old work colleague saw that I’d been added to her friend so she added me to hers. Confused? That’s because it happens so quickly you’re left shaking your head.
I’m writing this down because I still don’t know how long I’ll stick at this Facebook thing. I’m hanging around at the moment because I’m curious and am genuinely interested in maintaining contact with friends that have moved away from me. I’m not so interested in adding people that I see or work with all the time because I see or work with them all the time. I’m also conscious of what I write on people’s walls because everyone else can read it. It’s like being at home at night with the blinds up and the curtains open and the lights on. Everyone can see in and see what you’re up to. I’m not a leave the blinds open and the lights on kind of girl. I like my privacy.
What I’m saying is that I’m not that active on Facebook now. I’d rather just watch and participate periodically when I feel like it. I haven’t installed every application, I don’t send gifts willy nilly, I don’t ask lots of questions, I haven’t rated any movies, etc etc. I also reserve the right to cut and run, although I’ve heard it’s difficult, if not impossible, to delete a Facebook account.
For the moment, I’ll let Facebook sit around like a fairly dormant virus and hope that it doesn’t take hold.
Oh, how I loathe Facebook. And MySpace. I have enough clutter in my life. I got an account because a friend whom I had lost touch with invited me. And through him reclaimed another friend I had lost touch with. Now that I have their current email addresses again, I wish my account did not exist.
No meaningful communication takes place there. The entire concept is narcissistic. If anyone has an antiviral to get Facebook out of my life, and my life out of Facebook, let me know.
I must say, when myspace came along, I held off, as long as was humanly possible, jumping on the bandwagon – but sadly I eventually gave in. Only for a month. I can see the attraction, but after a while the novelty of it all wears off, and amongst teenagers it’s seen as merely a competition as to who can score the most friends. But social networking sites, for purposes of staying in contact with old long lost friends, I have no objection to – but mates you’ll bump into at school, it’s a bit of a waste of time.
I like your blog alot, and I hope you don’t mind me placing a link to it on mine.
cheerio, angus
I recently got an invitation by a friend to Facebook – I even went through the rigmarole of signing up – then it wanted to know all my passwords to my email accounts and I realised that I really didn’t need another distraction on this machine when I am at a point that I am only reading my favourite blogs, and only then after they have at least 3 posts waiting for my perusal!
Great minds think alike; I posted about the same thing just yesterday.
Bad news about attempted deletions, I’m afraid.
http://blandwagon.blogspot.com/2007/10/faceoff.html