Facebook

My friend, Pam, was telling me how much she enjoyed Facebook and that I should join.  Whatever.  That is for the younger crowd, I thought.  I have my Linkedin account for professional networking, and have resisted any other Internet social networking. The only time I got on Facebook or My Space was if I was planning to hire someone and I would check them out and see if they were stupid enough to put a clip of themselves on Spring Break in a Girls Gone Wild video.

Pam kept encouraging me to go on her account and see photos of all the people she knew, both past and present.  Of course, it was the past we were having the most fun with.  Looking in on old high school, college, and post-college friends and checking out intimate details of their lives without actually needing to carry on a conversation.  This aint so bad, I said.  So, I set up my account and invited a few friends, caught up with a couple of people, rummaged through a few photos, and was soon pretty bored by the whole thing.  Fast forward to Saturday night a couple of weeks ago when I'm home alone cooking dinner and decide to grab a glass of wine and play around on Facebook.  I had so much fun.  I was able to search through high school classes, and found my old boyfriend's brother, who was charming and just as sweet as ever.  Again, we spent a few minutes writing back and forth and then that's it.  I would hope to keep in touch.  I would hope he will call when he comes to Vegas.  I would hope I will call the next time I'm in Chicago (which is always during the warmer months).  I think this is what Facebook represents.  It is social networking using today's technology which continues to encourage people to not really get together.

Just like texting.  I love texting because it is quick, down, and dirty.  You can tell someone something without the annoyance of having to have a long chat.  Can you imagine dating in the texting world?  I would have loved that!  Breaking up with people by text because you're too big of a weenie to talk to them in person.  I think most of my relationships wouldn't have lasted as long as they did.

So, on Facebook, there is no room for error and you should know all the ins and outs.  If you tell something personal, and really most of this stuff is, you risk looking like an idiot.  I really watch what I say, who I have as friends, and how much information I provide.  In other words, not a great idea for someone who's had too much wine.  You might invite people you really don't care about (did that), and now those people have access to your information.  People write on your wall, but I don't always want everyone to see my conversations.  I'm sure you can do this privately, but don't know how.  Once, Liz gave me a picture of the old Cat and the Fiddle, which was cool.  Then, you get something like this:

You have been Kidnap'd by Kelly to Mumbai with the Spicy Beef Burrito!

What???  I don't have any idea what this means.  I haven't been kidnapped.  I've never been to Mumbai.  I certainly don't eat Spicy Beef Burritos.  So, there is a lot of crazy stuff on Facebook that I don't understand.  Maybe it is for the young folk after all.