I am still trying to resist the Facecrackbook.
The invites keep flooding in.
Mostly I am afeared of pictures from my youth, fueled by young hubris and much liquor, being tagged with my name once I’m there. And some things are just best left in the past.
But other than that – while I’m feeling weak and impressionable – does anyone have a *good* case for actually signing up?
I’ve had the odd person from my past come out of the woodwork. Not always a good thing, but it can be. I’d ruined a friendship years ago by going after the friend’s ex-boyfriend (I was young and stupid), and it’s nice to know that she’s forgiven me now.
Oh, and some people won’t respond to my emails but they will respond to my facebook messages to them. Go figure.
My best friend from high school and I had a big falling out right around grad and hadn’t spoken for 10 years until we reconnected on Facebook. It’s a crazy, crazy place.
Why not try it for a short time – two weeks maybe? That’s hardly enough time for everyone to swarm in with photos of you or make Facebook a valid alternate form of contact for you. If you don’t like it, delete your account, then you’re done with it.
Some things that I’ve enjoyed on Facebook:
1. Two weeks ago, I went to lunch with a person that I hadn’t seen since university. I didn’t search for her on Facebook, nor did she search for me – I just happened to join a group she was in, and she noticed my name and thought “oh yeah, Chris, I wonder what he’s up to?”
2. I saw some of the first photos from my wedding on Facebook (as Mel’s sisters are heavy users).
I tried it out, liked it, so kept with it. If you don’t like it, you can just turn it off 🙂
By the way, with respect to people tagging you in photos – people can tag non-Facebook users in photos already. I just tagged you in a photo from Mel’s birthday party (don’t worry, you’re not being drunk and stupid in said photo).
Y’know, chances are that you’ll get on there, spend a few days obsessively tracking down everyone you know, and then realize what a colossal waste of time it is.
It’s not a real COMMUNITY of common interests like many other websites are, ergo it has limited appeal for me. Sure I’m in a group of people I once knew 13 years ago, but I didn’t stay in touch with them then so there isn’t much pull for me now.
Like anything else, if used responsibly I think Facebook can be another nice addition to your internet habits. But if you don’t want another addition, then just stay away. It’ll all die down in a few months anyways.
My high school reuinion is being planned through it, and there are a few other events that I’m interested that are being plugged there… so, it’s interesting enough for me.
badly designed site, though. ugh.
I’m enjoying being randomly found by childhood friends. It’s bizarre to find people who were five when they moved away and are “suddenly” 22.