All this social networking stuff is making me feel a little unsettled. Here I was, all comfy at home at my blog, merrily sharing my life and my animals with anybody who wants to stop by, then along comes facebook.
If you've not joined the facebook frenzy, it's probably just a matter of time. You'll get an e-mail from a friend who has joined, requesting that you join, and you'll oblige. Then you'll find yourself in this mysterious place where you can choose your friends and they can choose you...or not. And you can read about what your friends are doing that very second. And facebook feeds you pictures of people you might know from high school or college or a previous job, and you can see what they look like many years after the fact. And they can see what you look like many years after the fact. The whole thing is so freakin' bizarre, my head is spinning.
And what's even more bizarre to me is that my facebook friends tend to be people I used to know or know now in person, yet they're generally not readers of this blog. But I feel closer to my blog-reader friends because they know me now and they know my animals and what goes on out here on a daily basis. Granted, there are a few crossover exceptions (Hi, Carolynn, Victoria, Pat in East Tn, Kathleen, Marie, Bibi, and Sully!), but by and large, it's two different worlds. I just don't get it.
But this I do know. I am having dinner tonight with someone I haven't seen in 36 years (that's not a typo). And it's all because of facebook. And I'm still not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. And I'm not sure if I should blog about it, or write about it on my wall, or just turn this darned computer off and pick up the phone and tell you about it. Because I'll have to tell somebody.
Smooch?
I'm intrigued. Do tell — inquiring minds want to know.
ReplyDeleteAs you know I'm on Facebook (remember? LOL) after my daughter (in-law) urged me. She thinks this is the greatest thing since sliced bread, but I, on the other hand, am with you thinking it is freakin' bizarre. I am still trying to understand it all.
ReplyDeleteDo blog about your dinner, and also Smooch's input on it too. HA!
Hi Linda: I love stopping by the 7MSN Ranch and do so daily since you give me a boost to my day. You work hard there all by yourself. Face book is not my cup of tea and neither is Twitter. For some reason staying connected is not my style. I don't have a cell phone or an Ipod so I guess I'm living in the dark ages.
ReplyDeleteHave lots of fun at lunch with an old friend.
Best always, Sandra
I'm also new to Facebook and still trying to pick up the Facebook etiquette. I guess I'm not sure I understand what a "friend" is in Facebook land. I do have some people who read my blog because they see a link on my Facebook page, but then they comment on my Facebook page rather than my blog where other blog readers could read what they say. But I do like that I have found some long lost friends through Facebook. Hope you enjoyed your dinner!
ReplyDeleteIt is daunting, I agree. And I share your ambivilance about re-connecting. But, I certainly enjoy eavesdropping on your life, opened to us with such carefree welcome. Thanks for that, and I hope all your encounters in cyberclimes are rooted in shared love, be it for dog, horse or human!
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing watching the Facebook wave swell across the web - as different demographics learn, and then embrace it, and eventually disregard it.
ReplyDeleteI find the whole facebook thing fascinating but a little disconcerting. I'm still trying to figure out if I'm going to continue with it.
ReplyDeleteThat's all very interesting. I know two of my kids use facebook but I probably won't, there's nothing that interesting about me that anyone would want to know about.
ReplyDelete36 years, hmm, can't wait for the story.
I'm new to Facebook and frankly, I just don't get it! LIke you, I have friends and family on Facebook who don't EVER read my blogs! Go figure! I'm underwhelmed by Facebook.
ReplyDeleteI prefer blogging over Facebook. I have a "friend" that must be on Facebook every 30 seconds. I don't get it. I check in once in a while and I do a quick update or post a pic but I much prefer the Blogger world.
ReplyDeleteI got the invite a couple of months ago, signed up and haven't touched it since, seemed a bit overwhelming to me. My daughter got info I had joined, next thing I know I'm being signed up as my daughter's friend on facebook, kind of weird. I don't call my dad enough, don't know if I have time to keep up with that many more people.
ReplyDeleteAm interested to see how the dinner goes.
I don't understand the whole facebook thing, been invited to join by several,but not posting anything on it, I like blogging better, I have a public blog and I have private family blog that only people I invite can see anything, like this much better, that whole facebook thing scares me...
ReplyDeleteI agree with all the above. A little Facebook goes a long way.
ReplyDeleteWe all want to know about this dinner. I hope it was fun and that you come back here to tell your girlfriends all about it.
Absolutely prefer blogging over facebook. Also prefer my Yahoo list serv over facebook. It seems that facebook doesn't have any substance... just "whatchya doins" and I really don't care if so & so is making mac & cheese tonight. Tell me about your horse, your ride, etc.!
ReplyDeleteBut I caved because some were posting videos of their horses or rides on Facebook and it was a way to see it AND it is a way to see what my kids are saying on Facebook because I had them make me their "friend".
AND I did get "found" via Facebook by my high school class planning a 30th reuinion.
But I'll take my blog over Facebook anyday....
The people of my Facebook, cousins and friends, are always writing such silly things - like what they're thinking at that very moment. I just don't enjoy it but that puts me waaaay in the minority. Yet, I love the whole blogging scene especially good photography.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure about Facebook.
ReplyDeleteLove your blog and get a daily dose of your world. I may not always comment, but I am their daily. You live the life I could only dream about, So I just pick a little of it up and put it in my pocket and enjoy the results of my trip through your blog all day.
Thanks and have a wonderful week
I don't know if I will ever get on board with facebook...I'm good as I am!!
ReplyDeleteBut...I am a hopeless romantic....is dinner with a old flame??? Just asking!
I agree w/ everyone above about Facebook. I have joined but find it as another thing to look at when I could be doing something more important... And like someone said, it's just "whatcha doin's" and minor tidbits of everyone's life... I say this and am probably one of the younger people who should be excited about it; I'm 28. But! I also am refusing to go to my class reunion coming up this summer. ;) Maybe I'm just considered a stickin the MUD. LOL
ReplyDeleteI joined facebook as a way of keeping in touch with my daughter. She reads my blog (occasionally) but does not leave comments. If I want to keep in touch with her, I have to check her facebook; she doesn't phone either. I hates facebook, I find it annoying and silly. Blogging is so much more personal and creative.
ReplyDeleteI'm loving that we're connected on Facebook! It is a funny place though, this virtual universe. My real, live, in-person friends that I see once every 6 months or so, ask me what I've been up to and I say...if you really want to know what's happening in my life, read my blog. One of my girlfriends told me (basically) that she didn't think we'd sunk that low yet. My thought? Dude! My blogger friends probably know me better and more intimately than you do, now. Anyway, that's my rambling rant on the subject.
ReplyDeleteSo...this date....is it with a boy...?
Carolynn, I can't tell you how many times I've had that same "if you really want to know what's happening, read my blog" conversation. What's with these people?
ReplyDeleteYes, this dinner (I'm not calling it a date) is with a boy. Last time I saw him was in 12th grade English class.
Well, if you can even figure out how to use FB, more power to ya! I just found a section there recently with stuff people had "sent me" weeks/months ago. I'm thinking you just have to have the knack. Evidently I don't. Good luck to you!
ReplyDeleteHmmm....I treasure my privacy. I like to share, when I want to share. And, granted I have never BEEN to Facebook (is it a place, really? ;-) and don't plan to head that way any time soon. I do mosy over to the 7MSN daily for delightful and insightful connection with Linda and the gang. That works for me.
ReplyDeleteI am on Facebook too, I did connect with alot of my high school friend who I hadn't talked too in over 17 yrs. But like everyone else I prefer checking out horsey blogs.
ReplyDeleteI only get on Facebook once a week to check in, some people live by it and have it with their blackberries etc. That's a little extreme to me!
Hope the dinner goes well!
ReplyDeleteI was on Facebook for a few months at the invitation of a good friend who lives in Indonesia and used Facebook to keep up with people.
But I never liked it - unlike what seems to be the "norm" I was not inclined to add everybody who requested it to my friend list. I only wanted my friend list to be people I knew - not everyone who had every number of degrees of separation possible from me.
I got so tired of fielding those silly requests for nominations, etc.
Then I got a notification that anything I wrote/posted on Facebook became the property of Facebook even if I chose to delete my account.
That was just the excuse I needed to delete my account.
I much prefer blogs. And of course, greatly enjoy this one. :)
I swore I wouldn't do it - I think I even said it on my blog - but I am now signed up as well. My daughter has over 800 "friends"...crazy...but she posted a picture of a piece of my art and my website got a bizillion hits that day. I am going to try it for a while at least to see what happens.
ReplyDeleteI don't do Face-Book or Twitter; although I do have a Myspace account that my partner and I share. We ca't remember the password half of the time and have pretty much abandoned it because of blogging. I'm too much of a one track-minded person.
ReplyDeleteI hope you have fun at dinner and if Smooch does'nt feel like listening, I sure will!
Bibi? MY Bibi??? You know MY BIBI? Now I'm jealous.
ReplyDeleteGee, I dunno....I don't get Facebook. I don't know if I want to be in touch with a whole lotta people all the time.
Last time I saw somebody from high school, he didn't even remember my being in his class. The graduating class only had 167 students in it!
Shirley said "personal and creative"...that's what I like about blogging over FaceBook. I did the FB because my Dogster moms did it...it's a pretty weird environment and I get irritated with it.
ReplyDeleteI've had those same conversations...check my blog...and they don't get it!
Well, what did Smooch have to say?
Looking forward to the outcome of the "not a date" event! Have fun!
I have been dragged onto Facebook, kicking and screaming. It's one more time-suck on the computer when I really want to be out doing what I love that means something.
ReplyDeleteCarson -- I don't know...I knew you in your old life, I read your blog and I think I got you hooked on Facebook. I'm not sure what category that puts me in! I have to agree with a lot of those who have commented that Facebook is kind of silly. It is fun to reconnect with people from the past, though.
ReplyDeleteAhhh yes...the wonders of Facebook!! I don't like how you have to create a wall in order to visit with friends (you know how Blogger will let you just be anon and sign your name??)
ReplyDeleteI joined a while back so I could keep up with some friends, but deleted myself when I started getting friend requests from old boyfriends and such. I thought to myslef "Would I like it if my hubby had old girlfriends contacting him??" Probably not...lol!!!
Anywho...it is a good way to network socially, but I think it may be better if you are single. I will just stick with my blog for now, as it is family oriented. :)
PS-Have a great dinner with you re-found "friend!"
I was a Facebook addict for a while. I have reconnected with a lot of old friends from high school, mostly. But we really aren't any closer than we were before we "friended" each other on FB. I haven't actually been over there in weeks! Yikes! I prefer blogging. Have a good dinner date...let us know how it goes! :)
ReplyDeleteLOL Smooch won't tell!
ReplyDeleteI resisted Facebook for ages, like 2 years! I kept getting the e-mails saying 'your friends want you at facebook' etc etc...and I did make a facebook page, just didn't LIKE it! I couldn't get the hang of it, or see the use in it when the only friends on there were people I could talk to on MSN anyway!
But then...I realised I could search for and then talk to people I didn't have the e-mail addresses of, INCLUDING a certain person of the male species who I had a crush on in High School, but never had the guts to talk to much back then!
There had to be a decent reason to get involved in Facebook, wasn't there! Now my cousin says I'm addicted...naaaahhhh!!!! Once I realise this guy is actually human like the rest of us, I probably won't go on very much!
The other thing I find with facebook, is most of my friends try to get as many people added as 'friends' as possible...some have over 300 'friends'. I have about 40 or 50, but they are all people I talk to, not just people I know of.
Oh and P.S ... DO TELL!!! =P
What Freudian significance is there in the fact that when I look at the picture heading up this entry, I see baby bottle nipples???
ReplyDeleteJune, I think you've figured out this facebook thing for all of us!
ReplyDeleteYour post successfully described what thoughts ran through my head as I joined FB a few weeks ago too. Questions from "friends" asking what you've been up to, and you're thinking... uh, don't you know about the BLOG. THat has all my latest doings in one happy place. Hope the dinner went well!!
ReplyDeleteFacebook, Twitter, I've tried it, but for me, blogging seems more like writing letters and sending photos to friends - warm and welcoming yet with some much needed boundaries. We're approaching information overload. I don't really care what people are eating for lunch or want anyone to see pictures of me in high school.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to know how it turns out. I am on Facebook - but like you my blog is the real me.
ReplyDeleteSo far I have resisted facebook - blogging takes up enough time! I am fascinated to hear how your evening went!
ReplyDeleteI'm enjoying your blog. Just found it today with a link from Left Coast Cowboy blog. I visited Albuquerque and Santa Fe in March of 1999 too briefly. After five minutes I knew it was a place I could live. Congratulations on your new life.
ReplyDeleteI have a FB account. It followed for real when the young ones at a distance all switched over there from Myspace. Go figure. I had mainly used their Myspace pages to see new pictures that they posted. Babies and other loved ones in California and Northern Kentucky you know. They post pictures on FB now. The twittery kind of stuff isn't too interesting for me. But I have learned to limit access and enjoy the privacy choices. It could be a little more targeted if you ask me.
I forgot I had an account set up until an old high school friend asked to "friend" me. I had set it up while working in a law library without using it other than to check out other law library people. They were staff pages. Big whoop.
Now I am loafing and beginning to realize that I am not on permanent vacation. A year is probably long enough. When I look I will find, so I am stalling.
You are a brave soul. Hope the dinner was okay. I started dating an old friend when my marriage blew up. A year ago I moved ninety miles south to join him. He and the cats were napping when I started reading your blog. He took me to New Mexico. We drove from Albuquerque to Santa Fe in a March snowstorm -- beautiful on the back road not the interstate.
Sorry, didn't mean to go on so long. I'll poke around and read some more later. The pictures are wonderful.
Mark me down as yet another who does not get the facebook thing. Ok, there are a few people I went to school with, way back when, that I wonder about, but........
ReplyDeleteAnd twitter -- even worse. Who *cares* what someone is doing, every minute of the day? Really? It seems like the ultimate narcissism/voyeurism.... (I do get that there are some good uses, like when someone is on the road and their mother might like to know where they are and that they are [still] safe.....)
And -- I am SO with the people who say "If you want to know what's going on with me, read the blog." I have a relative who calls me on my birthday. I have to assume the point is "relationship building," yet when she asks me what I've been doing, and I say, "You mean 'aside from the two major trips I've taken lately?' and she has no clue, well, the conversation is not to (what I presume is) her point........
I don't care that she doesn't care what I'm doing, but I find it offensive that she makes this putative "relationship-building" call and then demonstrates that she actually doesn't care at all what I'm doing.....
I'd rather she just didn't call.....