...and have abandoned my poor blog readers. There's something nice about being able to post only one sentence a day on Facebook and have people know you are alive. You know...if there is no Facebook post for four days, and someone will come and make sure I'm not decomposing on the floor. But the fact is, a lot of people have been reading my blogs for a very long time and aren't on Facebook, and aren't going to get on Facebook. So there you go.
Blogs are about audience. If you don't write with at least a little bit of concern for your readers, well, you won't have any. Facebook is about connections. Twitter, as far as I'm concerned, is about marketing (personal or business). You have a Twitter account to promote yourself. (I have a Twitter account because for work I sometimes need to follow someone who is Twittering, but I don't post there at all). You have a Facebook account to reach out and be reachable. Once upon a time, both the roles, plus creativity, was what drove blog writing. But blogging takes work.
Facebook doesn't. It's an internet room where you get to see what your friends are up to in just a few clicks and a few minutes a day. Every once in awhile I'll take a quiz for the fun of it, but I don't play the games, swap the plants, etc. etc., mostly because I don't have time. I just want to see how everyone is and stay in touch.
My phone has rung when my "one sentence of the day" has sounded down-and-out to a friend, and I myself have done the same. I've found myself in face-to-face friend time after touching base via Facebook. For some reason when people read my blog, if they wish to contact me, they send an email. On Facebook, people ring my phone. Even from across the country.
But Facebook isn't my blog. Blogging is my first technic love, so I need to find time for it. Besides, on Facebook, photos are just albums. In blogging, they are part of the story.
4 comments:
Perhaps it's sad, but I'd rather not use Facebook or MySpace, because most of the people there who would look me up - I don't want to know. I don't want to see my friends from high school etc. I certainly don't want to know what happened to my exes. And 95% of the people on Facebook that I know, I already follow their blog or other internet communication already, so I don't think I need the time sink. Yes, I Twitter for work too, but it ain't an obsession.
Any of the internet things need to be done in moderation anyway - too many things are more important.
Myspace hurts my head. I'm not sure what's up with all the bright colors, flashing things, and general mess I seem to see there. Facebook I reserve for people I know and like through work and the past, and I can chose whom I "friend" and close my profile to others if I wish. I joined, once again, due to work. It's been somewhat of a lifesaver for me, dealing with the personal issues of this past year and needing some support, but it IS another time-suck, and it HAS taken away from my blog. But I've also gotten together with a friend from crew (college), a past coworker at Ithaca College, and a couple of adopters.
So I can definitely understand why some people would not be interested in joining Facebook. The "people you don't want to see" can be a real concern. Facebook kept telling me I should "friend" my ex because "we went to the same college together." I finally had to block him, not because of anything he had done, or because I didn't want him to see my page, but because Facebook kept flashing him at me everyday, and that was the only way I could find to stop it, LOL!
And we love your stories! ;P
PS - I share Grorg's views. I'm on Facebook and people I can't be bothered with are asking to hook up. What's up with that? I therefore make it a point to delete every friend/app request received on a weekly basis.
Well, on the subject of "people who didn't speak with me in high school but now want me to be their friend" I have friended anyone I can confirm actually went to school with me. I was not a popular girl at all. However, some people who have "friended" me are now involved with their local animal shelter etc. So I've figured, "friend now, block later" if someone turns out not to be a match with me. Because sometimes people change.
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