Such is my relationship with social networking sites--I came late, having blown off MySpace(it always seemed like kind of a mess) and not ever really taking to Twitter. I didn't get on Facebook till March of last year, when I got an email from a guy I'd last seen when we were in 5th grade together, back in 1972, inviting me to join an online "reunion" of people I'd gone I knew at that elementary school--happy days(we moved to another neighborhood the summer before I started 6th, which was a disaster, but that's another story). So, I thought, jeez, I've got to give this a try. I opened an account, got on and low and behold, there they all were, or a lot of them--the pals I hadn't seen in some 38 years, now grown fat and wrinkled and grey. It's weird--the image you have of anyone is the way you last saw them, which in this case was of a bunch of 10-year-olds. I had to look real hard at the photos they'd posted to make out the kids I'd known so long ago, somewhere deep inside those faces.
It was kind of a revelation. They say that Facebook is for teens, but it's much more interesting when you've lived for awhile and left a lot of people behind. I've found a good many other old friends and acquaintances since then--it's comforting somehow to know they're still somewhere out there, maybe because I hate to say goodbye. But of course, finding old buddies has its limits, and once you learn the basics, you usually don't have much to say. Where I've really seen the benefits of Facebook is in my work. In a previous life, I was a minor-league alternative comic book creator and a lot of cartoonist types know about me. I started getting friend requests almost immediately and have built up a pretty good network of people all over the industry, or really, in several industries, most of whom I've never actually met. I keep up with news and hear gossip, and if I have a professional question, there's usually someone I can ask. The informal, chatty quality of Facebook is perfect for keeping in "light touch" with people, just enough so that if you really need something from them, the request won't come completely out of the blue. For someone who spends most of the time at home, alone at his drawing board or computer, Facebook has been a godsend--I spent years and years only sporadically communicating with anyone who didn't actually live with me. Facebook has also allowed me to play around with ways to present myself online, which, since I'd like to launch some kind of internet art project in the near future, is a useful exercise.
Of course, I'm wary of the dangers of Facebook, but I'm very careful about what I post or say and I haven't found it interesting enough to be worth checking more than a couple of times a day. One shouldn't mistake their FB friends for their real-life ones, but they should understand their internet buds are a different order of social circle, one with it's own limitations and possibilities. True, involvement with Facebook or any social networking site gives someone, somewhere access to information about you. But guess what? Unless you're planning to move to the wilds of Alaska and live in a plywood shack heated with kerosene and dried moose poop, they'll find ways to collect it anyway.
I fully expect, not too long from now, to turn around and realize that Facebook has been passe for longer than anyone under 10 can remember. Heck, I guess it already is: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/magazine/30FOB-medium-t.html
Oh dear. I just know I'm going to miss the boat again.
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