Friday, April 16, 2010

Upon Further Review...Face to Face with the Monster

I'm not the type that feels it is necessary to get in the last word. But after reading everyone else's better thought-out responses to my initial post, I felt the need to redeem myself.

I hear you all loud and clear about the facebook monster. And before I try explaining my bizarre views on the topic, I thought I'd break the ice first.



In that video, I'm Darryl, casually remarking how scary bookface is. And all of the commenters are Jim, casually rebutting that there isn't any reason to be afraid.

First, let me state that I've had a little of Kool Aid. Recently, I joined LinkedIn, though I did it to gain access to the Trailing Spouse Network. (Thank you, DiploLife, for the link.) Which, by the way, also had an interesting discussion about "trailing spouse," but not as good as the one at Life After Jerusalem.

(And to minnesotagal, one down, one to go to fulfill your prediction.)

I suppose I should go back and insert that while this is a blog about being an Expat For the Misses (EFM), I'm still stateside. I'm writing from the perspective of someone who is getting ready to go to his first overseas posting. Consequently, I've never been deprived of the Internet (well, at least since high school). I can't really comprehend a life in which I can't still down, fire up the computer, and shoot out a few e-mails as quickly as I can type them and hit send.

Consider me a social experiment of how an isolationist will change his perspective once he really feels isolated.

I also drew from the comments listed in my original post the difference between the facebook culture and the facebook utility. The facebook monster isn't a Web site; it is the culture of constant updates, embarrassing photos, spying on friends, and spying on non-friends, but you made them your friend so you could spy on each other. And seeing how many friends you can, etc. (Real quick, one of my friends on facebook put his settings on Pirate, which would be an entertaining enough reason to create a profile.)

The utility of facebook is connecting to lost contacts and reaching all of your friends and family with one simple posting. Though I still contend that there probably is a reason why contact was lost with these former acquaintances, and you still need the Internet to post anything on facebook, right? If so, in theory, you could still send an e-mail, right?

I suppose once I see that facebook is more proficient and effective than e-mail, then I'll probably take the plunge. The problem I have is that facebook seems like making your e-mails public. And I'm much too concerned about my own privacy to do it that.

5 comments:

  1. I'm so excited I could cry.

    And if you ever join facebook and don't friend me, I'll have to roll up in a ball, wind my hair around my fingers, suck my thumb, and rock back and forth (humming quietly) just to try to get through the pain. And Natalie has to join, too, because I KNOW SHE IS FUNNY and I Need. Access.

    I look forward to coming back and watching the video when I have a bit more time...

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  2. Oh!

    Upon further review, the video was ten seconds long. I can totally spare that! Never mind.

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  3. It's Friday, and that means that the Weekly State Department Blog Roundup is up - and you're on it!

    Here is the link:

    http://bit.ly/9eiR0S

    (If I quoted your text or used your photo(s) and you would rather I had not, please let me know. Please also be sure to check the link(s) that I put up to you, in order to verify that they work properly. If you would rather that I had not referenced you, and/or do not want me to reference you in the future, please also contact me.)

    Thanks!

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  4. I'm so proud of you! These are big steps...

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  5. I identified with your last two posts in that I am not a twitter fan and it bugged me. I know so many people that love to twitter that I often wondered what it was specifically about it I didn't like.

    My best guess is that it is because I enjoy writing and not just texting. I enjoying writing and reading more than just 140 characters. It sort of feels incomplete with just 140 characters as I am far from a poet.

    Now I love Facebook, since there is the space for longer notes and it can aggregate content from many different sources. I wasn't that big of a user until we were posted overseas.

    A good example of why you should love Facebook is our experience with untenured bidding. FS friends in the same boat shared guestimations on when the list would come out (some had better information than we!). Then you got to see immediately what post people got, which helped inform what you got before you got your email.

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