Facebook 30-Day Review

It's been just over a month since I joined Facebook. Here are my 5 thoughts about it:

1. Facebook is a virtual high school reunion. I did not list my high school on my profile, but, as I added a couple of old high school friends, other classmates from their networks have contacted me. Some of these are people who I did not know well or was not friends with. I'm not sure I feel the need to connect with them now.

2. People's Facebook profiles cover the entire range in tone and subject matter. Some of my Facebook friends have very dry, very safe, corporate-oriented profiles akin to a LinkedIn or Plaxo page. Some of my more creative, non-conformist friends, however, have gone to the other extreme, even to the point of posting photos of themselves in fetish gear. I'm trying to strike a balance in between, and believe me, the area in between is vast.

3. Some of my Facebook friends send personal messages to each other's walls, often to make plans. I'm not sure why they don't just text or email each other when they're making plans to attend a yoga class or talking about other people, and it's clearly not a network-wide announcement. It's also an example of people seeming less concerned about their privacy as they use the Internet more.

4. A month ago, I was concerned that Facebook could be a giant time suck. I was right. Some Facebook folks seem to spend an inordinate amount of time virtually throwing snowballs, sending bottles of champagne, "gossiping," playing "word twist," etc. But as with everything else, Facebook only becomes a time suck if you let it. I have been able to limit my time spent on Facebook, and have had little interest in sending or receiving virtual goodies or playing games.

5. Speaking of "gossiping," I do see that certain applications on Facebook, such as the "gossip" function, appear to be spam/phishing attempts in disguise. When I received a notice that someone has "gossiped" about me and clicked the link, I received a notice that, to read the "gossip," I would have to hand over my Facebook personal information. I have no doubt that doing so would place me on some companies' marketing lists. Watch out for this stuff!

All in all, I find Facebook instantly fun for social purposes, and potentially useful for business purposes. But, as with everything else on the Internet, Facebook should be used with care.

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I'm Dreaming of a Wired Christmas

This holiday season, I've got social networking on the mind. Over the past few weeks, I've blogged about both Facebook and Twitter, having joined Facebook and thus far rejected Twitter as less than useful. For many of us who are not the earliest adopters, I suspect that 2008 was a watershed year for social networking.

The 2008 election no doubt provided a huge boost for social networking. Barack Obama's use of Internet technology, especially social networking, to help win the Presidential election will be the subject of textbooks and case studies for decades to come. Now that the election season has turned into the holiday season, I am finding social networking to be an invaluable tool in other ways. In just the past few days, I:

-- used Facebook to find the email addresses of some new "friends" and send them an article regarding something we talked about over Thanksgiving dinner;

-- added someone I met at a recent trade show to my LinkedIn network; and

-- took a look at some fun photos of a recent writers' holiday party that one of the attendees put up on our Yahoo! group.

Who knows what other social connections, business associations, and synergistic combinations of the two will result from the use of these and other social networking tools?

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Facebook's Siren Song

I just joined Facebook after having received a bunch of invitations in recent months. However, the jury is still out on whether I'll remain an active Facebook member, or a member at all.

On the plus side, Facebook is a fun way to have old friends find and contact you. Likewise, Facebook is another avenue to keep up and communicate with your current friends and loved ones. Through Facebook, I have learned some interesting things about my friends, such as the fact that a number of them have adopted the middle name "Hussein."

However, Facebook has a couple of significant minuses. First, Facebook involves a loss of privacy. Depending on how you adjust your settings and what information you list, your Facebook profile may include your full name, your photo, your email address, your mailing address, your place of employment, your interests and activities, etc. This is not necessarily information that you would want to place into the public domain, especially consolidated on a page or two. Everyone from stalkers to marketers could then use Facebook to follow your life and make unwanted contact with you. To avoid this intrusion, you might have to be vigilant in tweaking your Facebook settings to maximize your privacy, but, in doing so, you might defeat the reason for joining Facebook in the first place, i.e., making yourself accessible for others to find you.

The other downside is that, like Twitter, Facebook can be a giant time-suck. The "What are you doing right now?" box at the top of your Facebook home page is almost identical to Twitter. I'm surprised at how many people are using this device to update their Facebook pages during the day, and at how many people are then responding to these messages. My Facebook "wall" is now covered with this graffiti. Similarly, I have received a number of comments on my posted photos. While this attention is amusing and flattering, who can afford to be lured away from work and other activities by yet another attractive, time-consuming technology? Who has the discipline not to get inhaled into this giant and ever-growing vortex of Internet inanity? Besides, I'm already too busy cat bowling and reading hopelessly corny email jokes.

While it has been enjoyable to have old and current friends get in touch with me via Facebook, somehow I don't think I'm going to be a very good Facebooker.

(Charlie Chaplin "Modern Times" photo from Teachwithmovies.org)

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