Getting Lost in Facebook

I have been getting lost in Facebook lately. If you have joined Facebook you know what I mean. I can go on to take a quick peek and an hour later I’m still wandering around. I’ve actually been inundating myself with all kinds of social media lately and Facebook in particular for so many reasons:

#1 It’s what I do, professionally. My career for the last 20 years has involved learning new technology and making it easy for non-technical people to understand.

#2 It’s fun. I mean really fun. I joined Facebook less than a year ago. When I told my 23 year old niece I had joined, her reaction was “You are on Facebook? You are on Facebook? You are on Facebook?” Yes, 3 times, as if to say, “What possibly could an old person like you have to say in a a place like Facebook?” At the same time I had gone to a college reunion and my college friends would not take me seriously when i told them to join. Instead we spied on their kids. Since then, and mostly in the last few months, several of my siblings have joined, we have connected with several cousins (all over the age of 40), college friends, high school friends, and last week my almost 80 year old mother joined! I love it, it’s fun!

#3 Social Outreach for friends in need. I visited a disabled friend in another state recently and after I returned a few of us set up a Facebook group for her so people could post messages, stories and pictures for and about her. What a great way to pull her friends together. People have joined from all over the US and Italy too! That’s just one of the groups that I have created or joined!

#4 Non-profit event promotion. I’m co-chairing my kids’ school’s fund raising auction. We’re planning on using it to promote the event. Lots of the parents have joined Facebook. We’ll see if we raise more money this year.

#5 It gives me a bigger voice, and hopefully not just a loud voice. I feel passionately about a lot of things, and this is a way to get myself heard. I do worry about this one because I do respect opposing viewpoints. I just hope it won’t scare people from expressing themselves to me.

I am hoping to expand on each of these topics here as I continue to explore them.

Why did you join (or not join) Facebook?