You folks have been a great source of advice--I really appreciate the recent CSA advice and thought I'd try out another realm: technology.
Can someone explain to me how they use Facebook?
I signed up for it recently because I was searching for some information about some teachers who work at a summer camp I was considering for my kids (and I did get a much better feel for the teachers in question and whether they'd be a good fit for my kids). And then I forgot about it for a few weeks.
But then I got an email message via Facebook from a long-lost-friend from undergrad. And that is great! It makes me really happy to reconnect with some people from my past (of course there are a number of other people with whom I would prefer not to reconnect; I shall dub them the "undesirables".)
I went back into my profile and put in a link to this blog. And Facebook pointed out a whole bunch of people who I could "friend" some of whom I actually do consider friends! And very few "undesirables"!
But I don't want to sink a lot of time into Facebook--I prefer to stay focused here. I have no problem keeping it up as a bridge to this blog, but is that a good use of it? Is there something I'm missing? or some use of Facebook that you've found that is particularly helpful and unique?
Advice welcomed.
9 comments:
I'm on FB--friend me if you want, please :)
I like it. I've reconnected with old friends from high school, middle school and even one from elementary school. It's neat to see what happened to folks, and I actually like the "what are you doing?" posts b/c, well, I love to know what my friends are up to!
I love social media though. I like meeting someone, being online friends with them (or vice versa, as is most often the case!) and then getting to know them over the 'net. So, I'd say it's a great way to meet people and stay in touch. But as I said, I'm biased as I really love social media!
PS: Have your husband sign up...Jeff is on FB and if Jeff can do it, so can B! :)
I have mixed feelings about Facebook.
On the one hand, it connects me in a 'casual way' with people I care about, but don't usually make the time to contact directly. On FB, I can find out a bit about what's going on in their lives - even if it is just what they 'ate for dinner last night'.
What I don't care for in the FB realm is that it tends to get a bit like Grand Central Station - with so many folks communicating simultaneously.
That said, I understand there are privacy settings that can be put in place to avoid having to read all the comments from friends of friends of friends.
Like you, I prefer to focus my time on my personal blog to share rants n' raves, and on e-mail for quality one-on-one time.
Good luck to you with all of the above in making your connections.
P.S. I've been lurking your blog and really enjoy it. Look what happens when I finally comment > mouth runneth over....
I love FB for connecting with my friends who live all over the world - and reconnecting with friends from the past.
I just ignore all the "other stuff"...people will send you silly quizes, superpoke you and all sorts of stuff. I don't have time for that, to be honest.
I was excited to see you on there Kate - I think you'll find your own mode of enjoying FB without it getting to be "too much".
Working at home I like the loose connection I can have with a bunch of pals via FB. You can pop in to conversations or just lurk. Some people are there round the clock but I’m comfortable contributing on a pretty lax schedule.
Like Susan W I don’t like all the requests to join causes, pokes, virtual gifts and all the “25 things about me” stuff - after awhile I got to the point where I could totally ignore all that stuff.
A side note. Most of my FB content is just a reposting of my Twitter tweets.
140 characters and none of the fat.
I got on FB out of professional obligation (my job is to teach faculty how to use technology to teach students). I got a little into it for a month or so, then realized the culture of FaceBook seems to favor shallowness. Poke me, send me a YouTube video, click the "like" button...but nothing "real" seems to happen on my FaceBook account. My husband quit looking at it altogether because it just highlighted to him that none of his close friends live in town, and his physically distant relationships are getting reduced to tweets and pokes.
Facebook is boring to me. I much prefer reading people's blogs. As you know, I don't use my real name anywhere on the internet, except for on Linked In, where I am the real me, because that's work related. So, I don't get any long lost friend traffic on facebook, but I do on Linked In. I am picky who I accept in my network on Linked In. The thing I find even more boring is twitter.
People brought up a good point about the quizzes and such. With the new layout, you get to see when people send 87,000 "Easter eggs" to people. I got a bunch and I don't even celebrate the holiday :) And I got a Hanukkah gift the other day, too...just a few months late :) I mean, if you want to send me some Challah bread--send it to me for real, not in an application. Ditto for beer.
So, I too ignore the applications. The quizzes are hysterical though b/c the results can usually apply to all people. One result will be "you are smart and friendly" and the other will be all "you're intelligent and like to meet people" and the next one is "you are bright and outgoing". None of the results ever say "you are a complete loser, you have no friends, kill yourself now".
You can stay friends with someone and then cancel out their posts on the "home" page. I have friends (married couple) who gave away their dog because the woman "didn't like" dealing with it (doggie had been abused) and then ran out and adopted two, fresh pure bred puppies. I don't roll that way, and I don't want to read about it, so I x'd out their posts. If I kept reading about it, you know I'd just go all ghetto on them and it'd be ugly.
If you can get beyond all of that crap, and x out people who irritate you (they don't know you x them out, btw), then it's fun to read about what folks are doing! I try to be clever with mine, and often fail miserably :)
PS: Thanks for friending me :)
I like Facebook - it keeps me in touch with people I care about - it keeps me on my toes and sort of witty. I challenge myself to see what profound or funny thing I can say in two sentences. I ignore most of of the tests, the surveys, etc unless it tweaks my interest. I like seeing photos. And, I took your sheep video and linked it to my FB site and it gave many people many smiles. I'm alone as a single parent so it makes me feel less disconnected. And, occasionally I will "de-friend" some annoying person who is too clingy and that is a great thing you can rarely do in real life!
Like John, fb helps me feel a bit less isolated while working at home. Sort of like overhearing banter in the lunch room or at the water cooler. Much of it is inane and meaningless, but some of it resonates or entertains.
One of the more useful things about facebook is how it allows me to broadcast and learn about local happenings.
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