I love Facebook. I was a late starter to such things. I’d been a member of www.oldfriends.co.nz for years which is a site that reconnects friends via schools they’ve attended but I finally decided to drag myself into the 21st century and try out Facebook and Twitter when I quit smoking in June 2008 and was desperately seeking a diversion.
Facebook has worked for me. I’m not into the games thankfully as I see friend after friend acquiesce to the addiction that is Farmville and/or Cafe world. I’m also not out to collect hundreds of friends – it’s just about being in contact with people who I like and who I want to maintain a relationship with despite us all being scattered around the world. It’s about sharing photos and news with everyone and getting to know better the half of my extended family who are in Ireland. I think at the moment I have around 55 ‘friends’ which is more than enough for me to manage. 
I keep Facebook and blogging quite separate (with 2 exceptions) as I don’t want to lose the freedom of my relatively anonymous blogging and I want Facebook to be about maintaining real life relationships.
Anyway, finally getting to the point of the post…
An old friend from school messaged me on FB from Massachusetts where she has lived for the last 20 years with her American husband and their children. I say an old ‘friend’ when in fact we weren’t that close at all – acquaintances would probably be more accurate though we did share many classes at high school. In the last few days we’ve (private) messaged back and forth and she turns out to be one of the most fabulous people I know. We have shared more in these few days than I have with most of my closest friends in years. We’ve browsed each others photos and commented on holidays, homes and children. We talked earnestly about our relationships (or lack thereof on my part), our hopes, our dreams and our fears.
I have a wonderful new friend who I already cherish and Facebook made it possible. Thank you Mark Zuckerberg.
Doesn't everyone have 3000 friends? No?
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The part of FB I had fun with was to friend request my great-nieces. They didn't want to say no but they didn't want me reading all their posts either. Now you can choose who reads what but not back then. Ha.
I use Tweetdeck to keep track FB and Twitter. Everything in one place and I can post to either without opening anything else up.
Me too Lori, Tweetdeck is simple and means opening only one application.
ReplyDeleteI got all my friends to friend request Rory to see what he'd do as of course he has hundreds of friends like all the young ones do. He managed it well - he responded to each request politely and promptly saying thanks but no thanks as some of his friends were a bit fresh on his wall and he wouldn't want any of mum's friends to be offended by what they might see.
I love FB if only for the reason it keeps me so closely connected to all my nearest and dearest back in Canada and as you said, friends around the world - people I actually know. Many of my friends have told me though that they still prefer reading my blog as a means to seeing what I've been up to, lol.
ReplyDeleteI do think people who mix work and FB are nuts though; the same goes for young people being friends with older relatives if they are prone to bad language or rude photos.
I haven't bothered to Tweet yet. I'm pleased you've reconnected with someone so special.
Lou FB is a great tool. It has made it so much easier to keep track of my small circle of friends and stay connected over the distances that separate us. I don't keep it separated, but I only have twenty three friends and I'm pretty sure I can trust all of them.
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