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Okay you old fogies… it’s time to Facebook.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011 / Networking
It seems Americans can be divided into two camps: those who Facebook and those who don’t.
I’ve spoken to lots of people who have told me that they have never bothered to sign up for Facebook because they just don’t “get it.” Or perhaps they did sign up, but rarely visit the site. Some of them go on to complain that Facebook is the purview of bored housewives and kids, or they deride the idea of reading about what someone had for lunch.
I’ll admit that I’ve put myself in that camp at times. All this social networking has sometimes seemed a bit inane or forced to me. I get so much more out of an in-person interaction or even an email exchange than spending time perusing Facebook or posting an observation as to why blue is my favorite color.
But I’ve come to realize that misses the point. The point is that a majority of our friends and relatives are likely using Facebook as one of their main forms of communication. Refusing to join is a bit like refusing to join your friends for a daily get-together. Sure, you can have your own interactions in your own time and in your own way, but you’ll miss out on all the stuff they share between each other, which will eventually isolate you from them more than you realize.
One of the experiences that opened my mind to this was an interaction I had recently with an out-of-town married couple with whom we’d spent a few vacations. I had sent them an email a month previously, and never heard a reply. I felt a little bad about this, because of course, I felt ignored. Obviously I could have picked up the phone and called, but not only are they not really that kind of friend, but after being ignored, I had to wonder if they would even want me to call.
So a month later I decide to load up my Facebook page after probably six months of ignoring it. I noticed that she had “poked” me on Facebook. I had no idea how long ago she had done this, but it was a simple message telling me she was out there and thinking of me. So I poked her back. She poked me back. I sent her a chat. She chatted back to me. Our friendship was restored (it was never actually gone), simply because she used Facebook, and not email, to communicate with her community.
Accordingly, my ignoring Facebook was akin to refusing to talk on one of those “new-fangled tele-thingies when I kin just walk across the street and knock on their door like I always done!”
Facebook is no longer a generational thing. Nor is it a temporary blip in the development of the web or the social network. It is simply another way we communicate, like the pony express, telegraph, telegram, letters, telephone, fax and email systems that went before it. You can continue to send letters if you like, but if many of your friends and family are spending time on Facebook, isn’t that reason enough for you to do the same? If they all visit a coffee shop every day, shouldn’t you join them now and again?
Lastly, for those of us who own computers, we should take a moment to thank our lucky stars that we can Facebook at all, versus those who aren’t fortunate enough to own or have easy access to a computer. There are plenty of people less fortunate than ourselves, and we serve ourselves well to always remember that.
