I confess I’ve become completely captivated by the social networking sites and have joined both FaceBook (again) and LinkedIn, one presumably all about the “social” in social networking and one presumably more business-focused. So, I’m “on” these sites, have developed profiles for each (remarkably similar), have some common “friends” or “contacts” to both (obviously other networking fanatics!), and now I wonder what it’s really all about.
What do people do all day on these sites? I mean, I could spend all day working on things, tweaking, adding new aps, writing on peoples’ walls, etc., but to what end? Does getting more “contacts/friends” mean I have more friends? No . . . Is it just about keeping score? How is emailing someone in FB different from emailing them through regular email? And, like writing this blog, how much of who and what I am am I willing to share with people who may or may not know me? I confess that I’m spending a lot more time thinking about what I’m writing these days than writing it. But then, maybe that’s good, too . . .
My curiousity got me into this. I signed up on FB early on in the days of my CA nephew’s college career, and, sure enough, he did, too. AND, he didn’t disappoint me with his site! Once that was modified appropriately (thanks to his mother’s intervention, not mine! After all, he’s just my god-child and I think he’s perfect!), I simply quit visiting, quit checking in. Now, in the post-graduation glow, I decided to check back in and see what others are up to, how it’s grown, what’s changed….and to see if there’s a place for me on Facebook.
In one of my old jobs (teaching-learning resource development), I might have been led here to explore this as a communication device for class use or as a teaching resource. But now, although I do think about that as I flip through pages and come across some very cook little aps, I really think its more about the social . . . AFter all, will someone seeing my profile on LinkedIn really call me up and offer me a job? I’m skeptical.
And I find that there are a lot of people like me — not kids — out there, logging in, setting up profiles, and sharing lots of information about themselves. What is this about? Is it a way of connecting with people, sharing ourselves that used to be done in different ways, i.e., church, civic groups, extended families, actually talking to people without cell phones, that we have moved away from? Or are sharers just sharers and this is one more way to share? Does the anonymity of something like FB or LI (even though none of us are anonymous if we’ve shared our names, our towns, our workplaces, our life histories, our bra sizes….) appeal to the voyeur in us all or is there some “real” other reason to be doing this?
Tell me if you have a FB or LI account and invite me to join your network. And tell me why it matters to you. I’ll come write on your wall and maybe we can talk about this . . . I’m still curious.
The Writer\'s Wife 