Thing #18 Facebook and MySpace

I am a user of Facebook. My sisters-in-law were the ones who talked me into it. I am far from my family so I check it everyday. I see photos of my nephews and nieces and get to read top of head thoughts from family and friends. They post to videos and we chat on occasion.

If I had just read about Facebook I would not have that much interest. It's the USING it that is fascinating. If I want to know after all these years who is still friends with who from my grade school or high school classes I can see - and not let them know I'm being nosey. I no longer believe there are 7 degrees of separation. I think it's more like 2 or 3 thanks to Facebook.

If I want to reconnect with an old friend. I find them on Facebook and become a part of their day to day life, instead of just reading their Christmas newsletter.

Facebook has a feature that tells you how many friends you have in common with others and will even create a list of people you may want to add to your friends list based on how many people you know in common.

I was back home for Christmas. We were in Church and I looked up and saw this guy coming back from Communion. I knew I knew him from somewhere. His face looked SO familiar! Then I realized he had been recommended to me on Facebook because he was a friend of a few of my friends! Not exactly what you're supposed to be thinking about in Church, but that's what happened.

I can see who is picky about their friends. Maybe they only have 20 or 30 as opposed to people who have 400 or so. To me those are acquaintances. I have high standards for the friend threshold. I believe I only have 40 or so on my page. Some from grammar school, a few from my high school days, a couple from college and then my family.

It's hard to tell people that you don't want to be friends with them when they send you a notice. You can chose to ignore it which is easier. If you don't you can end up with really strange people who you are not close with telling you sordid details of their lives. However it can sting if someone rejects your request or ignores your notice.

Which groups did you join and why?

I belong to the O'Neill Clan group and the Max Creek group. Max Creek is a band we would go to see when I was in college some moons ago. I think it's great that they still play and that others can see them today.

Facebook is huge and getting bigger everyday. People like to stay connected. But it's easier if they only have to go one place to do it rather than call a bunch of people on the phone or email different people.

It is a public venue, but there are ways to have conversations between 2 people on it also if that's what you need (if there's info you don't want to put out there for everyone.)

I looking at a Facebook group from my hometown in NY. Someone gave a description of a guy and where he used to work and asked if anyone knew what ever became of him. I knew the guy had died in 9/11. I sent the NYT online obit to the guy who had been wondering and this is what he sent back:

"Wow, his name had just popped into my head when that girl started naming people...I haven't really set foot in the place since I was around 18. I always remembered him because he had such a strong presence but seemed like a nice, fun loving guy. Can I post this article in that discussion topic? Thank you very much.

It never ceases to amaze me as to how strong this little network is within this group I started. What are the chances that you looked at that topic board the night I first thought about Michael in almost 20 years."

Chris

It IS a small world after all!