facebook phenomenon 1

Its been a slow process, the first thing that happened is someone who was on my email list recommended me to be in the special facebook club. I wasnt so sure, it was a bit like being invited to a different country as a visitor, an esteemed guest. It was a little exciting to receive such a high honor. My initial contact was somewhat confusing and I didnt have the patience at first to go through the sign up stage. After a couple of old friends invited me again I finally took the time to dive in. The first thing that happened is it innocently asked if I would like to include the others in my address book, well Im not the kind of person to exclude people so I absent mindedly said OK. For the next few days my inbox was full of mail, telling me that I had new friends on facebook. Some of my nieces and nephews were connecting, it was a flurry of notes from all over. I then discovered that if I went to my home page, I could see what other people were doing at that moment, or their frame of mind for the day. This was awesome, its like being a peeping tom with permission. I have always loved people watching and now I can watch and read and see others lives from all over the world at the same time, and Im still sitting here in my jammies! I'm so impressed. I havent taken the leap yet to being a full participant. I realize that there would be a significant time commitment involved and Im still not sure about that. It does look like fun. I have one friend who is looking for Easter eggs, that looked cool. She found a rare one the other day. I wanted to see it but not bad enough to help her look.
I really like the environmental impact that this is having, a lot of plants are being put in lil green patches. I havent given anyone a plant yet, it seemed like a nice idea, but I still have a couple of reservations about it, I always kill plants and I wouldnt want to put that responsibility on someone, plus shouldnt you be able to pick out your own plant? What if youre a fern person and someone gives you a jade? You can give it back which is a nice thing.
This has to be the friendliest place Ive been to in a while. Almost daily I have a recommendation to befriend someone. Sometimes I even know the person! It gives me this warm connected to humanity feeling. I think once I actually start conversing and sending out invitations to join my cause of the week it will really feel like a group hug. I appreciate all the requests to put my birthday on their calender, wow, I am humbled by all the people who want to know my birthday, its just that at my age, Im more into not remembering that Im getting older, so I apologize for not responding to those, they are all sitting in my request section waiting, along with the pet requests, this one Im not so keen on, Ive got a dog, she is a high maintenance blond and more than enough for me. It would be great to get a cat, I have always liked cats and have never been able to have one because of relatives with allergies, Joe cant stand cats and he wouldnt even have to know. I would name it razzle. I dont know why, it just seems like a cat name, If you dont like it get your own virtual cat.
Well one of these days I will take the leap and dive in all the way. I will be throwing parties, and planting stuff and joining causes, it will be a great time. Meanwhile Im happy seeing the pictures of the non virtual lives out there. Its good to know that real life is still happening. There is value in having a community however virtual it is, communication is a precious thing. Although I do miss the old fashioned phone call now and then. So see you out there all my fellow citizen's of facebook land. Virtual hugs all around.

facebook phenomenon 2

I have one more thing to say about facebook. As much as I love the ability to virtually connect with a global community I have some serious reservations about a couple of things on here. It makes me wonder who, and why. Who is it that makes up all those self analyzing tests? And why ? I mean they are a good way to find out exactly what kind of cereal you would be if you were in fact cereal, or what kind of candy bar, or what famous person in history, those are all things that Ive wanted to know but never had the right kind of test to find out. The one I really dont want to take is the where I should live test. This one could be bad, Im afraid that if it tells me I should be living in the country I would be faced with a life question, why am I not where I am supposed to be ?
I guess, its a good thing to get to know yourself better, and let others in on who you are, it would also be a helpful device if this was around a decade from now and we could take these tests again. How much have we changed ? Am I as crunchy as I used to be, am I still the novelist I thought I was? It could be helpful in our old age , escpecially for the under 30 set, you have a lifetime of self discovery ahead, and thank goodness for facebook and all those quizzes that let you see who you really are. So I think I have the why down, but the who is still lingering out there with all my other conspiracy theories, isnt this all very public information? So the world knows Im soft and smushy vs crunchy, not really a big deal, Unless....its all a plot to profile us then Im in trouble because the crunchy ones are better I'm sure of it. And, Im not sure of this but when you get a gadget like a plant or join a hatchling thing arent you giving someone your contact information? I suppose facebook has that as public info anyway, or are you then opening yourself up to a lot more spam ? Be careful out there citizens .
Joe isnt on facebook he usually doesnt sit still long enough, but when I showed him all the little quizzes and tests you could take, he thought it was stupid, which doesnt really surprise me, those who arent in the club just dont get it .