I recently read and article boasting that Facebook ruins friendships because “it limits communication to typing and encourages people to share far too much information with their poor, unsuspecting friends”. I do not agree with this stance, in fact I think it is quite the opposite. I think the social network actually builds relationships to a certain extent.Facebook currently has a membership of 300 million, which is a higher population than all but 9 countries. Impressive huh? And I feel it is just gaining momentum, I envision bigger and better things to come on Facebook. I just recently started seriously Facebooking in the last couple of months. I joined the social network last year just to see if I could by pass the powers that be at my workplace (the I. T. department had blocked all access to My Space and I wanted to see if all services in this vein were obstructed). I was able to get on Facebook with no problem, so I joined and then quickly forgot about it.
I do not remember what led me back to the site, I think I got a email asking that I verify a friend and it off and running from that point on. I was often surprised by invites from people in my past that I had not seen in years. One day I checked my email to find a note from my best friend in junior high asking if I was who she thought I was and if I remembered her. Quite fascinating, actually because I had not seen or heard from her in well over 30 years.
Another aspect that I really enjoy about Facebook is that young and old are coming together as friends. I am a middle aged woman and my youngest friend is 17, I mean how cool is that? I have connected with relatives and old school chums that I would not have if not for meeting up with them on the Internet.
I use Facebook to contact friends who may have long ago lost contact with and I wish this service had been around ten years ago. This application is excellent for looking at pictures of babies in your family that you have yet to meet. Facebook is excellent for finding out what high school and college classmates are up to. For instance, my son was able to find two friends from elementary school that he had not seen since his graduation nearly 20 years ago.
I must admit that there have been times when I spent more time on Facebook than I should have, but I'm not going to blame Facebook for my own procrastination/laziness. If Facebook wasn't there I would have found something else to waste time on (My Space, Twitter, Black Planet, etc). If I want to be distracted, I will find a distraction, trust me!
To all my "friends", If you don't feel like posting something, cruising profiles, or changing your status, don't do it. If you tire of my updates, hide them. If you don't want to partake in the latest quiz, leave it alone. If you fear big brother is keeping tabs on you, don't post your life story to your profile. If you are in a relationship, please don't be caught poking people all day :-D. It's a fun and innovative tool at your fingertips that can be used for both good or evil. If you don't feel like Facebooking, leave it alone. Well I got to run, I just thought of a friend I need to look up….
While I do that please enjoy some Facebook humor.
