Today, during lunch, I read this interesting article. It's entitled "You Have No Friends: Everyone else is on Facebook. Why aren't You?"
I'm not on Facebook. I've been invited by my cousin, Aly, to join the Facebook craze but have resisted. I live on the computer at work, I don't like spending a lot of time on it when I'm not at work. I blog. Sometimes when I should be working (like right now). I don't need another online enticement to neglect my work. Blogging keeps me updated with many of my friends and family (except Aly who neglects her blog but not Facebook).
The article makes a good argument for joining the 150 million people who have Facebook accounts, but I'm not sold. A prospective employer really won't hire me because I don't have a Facebook account??? If I were an employer, I'd hire that person precisely because they don't, but maybe that's just me. I'm odd. Sometimes I can't believe I actually have a blog - it's so unlike me in some ways.
So, tell me, are you on Facebook? What do you think about it? Why do you like it? Why do you think it's a waste of your precious time? Why should I be on Facebook? What benefits are there to being on it? Why would I ever want to spend more time on the computer fiddling with Facebook?
Thank you for your input. You guys are awesome!
12 comments:
Here are my two bits. I recently started a facebook account. I had heard all the hype and resisted for a long time, but eventually gave in. I don't keep it up to date, like I do with my blog. However, it has been really nice to find some people I have been wondering about - people from high school and such. I think a blog takes just as much time, if not more, than facebook, but I don't feel too caught up in either that it's wasting my precious time. Good luck with whatever you decide. I can't believe you wouldn't give me a job because I have a facebook account. Discrimination.
Hey I'm not on Facebook™ either. And yes sometimes it is like I have no friends because of it. With no Cell and no facebook, I practically don't exist. Ü.
But I don't know maybe it's just because I'm stubborn. Maybe it would really be the great thing that everyone claims it to be.
But I still don't like it.
It's too um everything.
I've heard a lot about how it could, hurt a person looking for a job... people say things that they don't even know they are saying, and reveal things that they don't mean to reveal.
It's so personal and public at the same time,
I just don't like it.
and for now I hold out.
I'm on Facebook because I am so hip. It's a very unfriendly place. People keep throwing snowballs at me. All I want to do is look at Lincoln pictures.
I recently started a Facebook account. The only reason I did was because one day I started wondering whatever happened to one of my old roommates. I did a google search for her, but the only thing I found was her facebook profile. In order to see it I had to have an acct. That was the ONLY reason I made an acct. Since then lots of people I knew in highschool and college have asked me to be their "friends". It's nice to look at their profiles and see where they are/what they're doing now. Sometimes we exchange the occasional msg, but thats about it. So I don't really think anyone NEEDS to be on facebook, it just seems an interesting way to find people. I guess I don't understand what people are doing on their facebook pages for so much time so maybe I'm missing something.
I think Facebook can be very addicting... and I don't even do very many of the things you can do (such as playing games with others or sending weird things to them, like snowballs, etc.)
My story: I originally joined so I could have a way to keep in contact with my friends from Taiwan - because many of them were on Facebook, but I rarely logged in, so I wasn't necessarily "in contact" with them at all. But the potential for contact was just a step away, I suppose.
At one point, I can't really pinpoint when, I became more active and actually updated my profile. I think it was around the time I went public on my blog. I think I was feeling like I had nothing to hide, so why was I hiding...?
Of course, I do tend to be a little cautious of what/how much personal things I post.
Now, I login to Facebook almost everyday. And there are days I wish I didn't, because I realize that on those days what I am looking for is a real, live friend (not a person who is also on their computer or who has been at their computer recently). On those days, Facebook is not the solution... it's the problem. It can never replace human contact and live interaction. That's one thing I'm dealing with, I suppose.
And yet, there are virtues... It's definitely a great way to keep the connection between yourself and others that could easily become forgotten over time. It has been especially useful to unite with my cousins a little bit better than I have done without it.
Oh, regarding the job aspect... I don't see the relationship between getting hired by a prospective employer and being a member of Facebook. The two are entirely unrelated to me. Facebook is purely a social structure in my... book.
So, bottom line, as far as I'm concerned with you joining Facebook: Do it if you want to. Don't do it if you don't care. I already feel like we have ways to stay in contact. It wouldn't add anything to our relationship.
I originally joined to look at someone else's profile. Since then I Do NOT check or update it regularly! Sure it has been nice to get in touch with a few friends that I haven't seen in awhile or aren't here close by. But what really irks me is when people actually have 200 or so "friends" in their profile, give me a break when does a real person have 200 friends that they keep in touch with and talk to. I think some people try to get as many "friends" as they can to make them look better to others. With the friends that I have on it, I really only chat with a few of them through Facebook. Anyways, those are my feelings toward it. Good luck in deciding.
I joined, too but I don't understand it at all. Can't figure out how to open my presents, send snowballs, kidnap anyone, or play the games. Maybe if I was smarter...
I do enjoy looking at the pictures my kids have put on there. I have only allowed family members to be my friends. I'm not sure why - maybe, for privacy. I've been invited to be friends with several of my old high school buddies, but haven't accepted them yet.
I'm sure I didn't help you make up your mind.
I agree with you...I'd be afraid an employee would be spending too much time on it. I am not a member, and I don't want people to find me that way. Lots of people have been blogging about social networking lately, and how they're addicted to it, but it just isn't enticing to me at all.
Ditto to Sarah. I contemplate deleting my profile sometimes. Similar to my blog. It really just kills me sometimes that I am on the internet and that people can find me here.
I joined because a whole bunch of people were talking about this photo that was of me on Facebook. And I thought it was lame that I couldn't see it. Now I just want to make everyone delete all their photos of me. Really... it just depends on the day. Sometimes I love it and find it to be exceedingly convenient and other times I hate it.
Thanks for your comments, everyone! Your input has been quite helpful. I've decided to stay one of the friend-less and not get an account on Facebook at this time. That may change but not any time soon. Of course, having said that, I'll probably sign up tomorrow. Life is weird.
I enjoy facebook, I don't visit often, usually only when I get an email that someone wants to be friends. If it wasn't for facebook I wouldn't have found my old best friend from elementary school, several of my mission companions I had lost touch with, some of my friends from Jerusalem, some extended family I never see, and a bunch of old high school friends. I think it is an easy way to connect with people, many you don't realize you miss until you hear from them.
Well, I better give my 2 cents, since I invited you. Here are the reasons I like Facebook:
1. I get little updates from cousins and other family members that I rarely talk to, and also from family members that I talk to a lot. It's fun to hear that Ben and Elise went to the inauguration (I know you probably read that on his blog, but not until after the fact) or that Kristi made it home safely from Vegas.
2. I've reconnected with many of my friends from High School, and even become better friends with some of them through Facebook.
3. I actually do have over 100 friends. Most are actually family members, but having been in the military, I have friends all over the planet and how else am I supposed to stay in touch with them all?
4. The photos. It's fun to see quickly and easily that someone has posted new photos, and to go look at them if I'm interested.
5. Geo Challenge: this is the only game I play regularly. I love it, but some may not. I do occasionally play other games, but not very often. One I know you would like is called Scramble and it is just like Boggle. :)
6. You can choose how much or little you want to do on facebook. You can get on once a day, once a week, or once a month. You can accept the friends you want, and deny the friends you don't want. You can join in the snowball fight, or ignore it completely. It's all about how you want to use it.
Okay, having said all of that...it's totally up to you if you want to join or not. I won't shun you as an actual friend just because we are not friends on facebook. Love you!!
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