As some of you now know, after months of being hounded by friends to join Facebook, I finally caved in. Why did I resist for so long? Several reasons, not the least of which is I was afraid it would turn into one more thing on the Internet that I would find myself constantly checking. So far? Yep, pretty true.
Part of me thought that if I really wanted to keep in touch with someone and vice-versa, wouldn't we have done that without the aid of this intrusive little bugger? But then I realized that few of us have the time or desire to regularly email or call all our friends and acquaintances. Now, I can find out what people I went to high school and college with (and in some cases have not talked to in 20 or more years) are doing, all in one place. Not too bad, even if some of the things people comment on seem a little odd to me.
Actually, what got me to join last night is one of my clients has pics of the inauguration on her Facebook page, so she encouraged me to join. That is odd for two reasons. One, as you may have noticed, I make it a point not to write about work in my blog, so "friending" a client on Facebook seems a little weird. The other obvious reason is it is not a secret I am not a big Obama fan. But he is our president, his election was historic, and I think it is neat that this woman saw it in person (she lives a 15-minute metro ride away).
For now, I will plan to accept invites that come my way, even if I can barely remember some of these people. After all, it is not as if I will be seeing most of these people ever again ("friendship" without the commitment or hassle of trying to get schedules to mesh or arrange travel plans!). I will also accept invites from coworkers even though I see these people most days and generally do know what they are doing.
Riding the wave (until the next one comes along)...
Part of me thought that if I really wanted to keep in touch with someone and vice-versa, wouldn't we have done that without the aid of this intrusive little bugger? But then I realized that few of us have the time or desire to regularly email or call all our friends and acquaintances. Now, I can find out what people I went to high school and college with (and in some cases have not talked to in 20 or more years) are doing, all in one place. Not too bad, even if some of the things people comment on seem a little odd to me.
Actually, what got me to join last night is one of my clients has pics of the inauguration on her Facebook page, so she encouraged me to join. That is odd for two reasons. One, as you may have noticed, I make it a point not to write about work in my blog, so "friending" a client on Facebook seems a little weird. The other obvious reason is it is not a secret I am not a big Obama fan. But he is our president, his election was historic, and I think it is neat that this woman saw it in person (she lives a 15-minute metro ride away).
For now, I will plan to accept invites that come my way, even if I can barely remember some of these people. After all, it is not as if I will be seeing most of these people ever again ("friendship" without the commitment or hassle of trying to get schedules to mesh or arrange travel plans!). I will also accept invites from coworkers even though I see these people most days and generally do know what they are doing.
Riding the wave (until the next one comes along)...
Comments
I still think it is cool to see what some high school classmates and college friends are up to, where they live, what they and their families look like. And I get, as some said, the convenience of having all of this on one site. But FB presents another challenge: trying to determine whom to leave comments and/or respond to. I now have 66 friends (who knew?!), and you cannot keep in touch with everyone.