Bamboozled by Facebook
I’ve been dragged into Facebook via work, and it’s quite a wrenching experience. I feel a bit like an illiterate neolithic hunter-gatherer confronted with writing for the first time. Everybody seems to be making good use of it, but I’m finding myself a bit stuck. It really is quite different from what I’m used to. The application itself seems a bit convoluted, but I’m struggling more with the question ‘what is it for?’
I did wonder whether I’m just getting old, and not understanding the ways of the kids, but it turns out that many of my contemporaries from school are on there, and they’re all the same age. Seeing how a few of them have aged makes me feel younger, though. (Miaow.)
I’m not sure what the etiquette of adding people as friends is yet, but I can’t help but wonder under what circumstances the ability to ‘poke’ random people would ever be appropriate!
Perhaps I’ll get the hang of it, like I did with Twitter, where I went from not seeing the point to being an avid user in a matter of a day or so.
Anyone else out there equally confused by Facebook? Is it just me? Did you get over it? Do feel free to add me as a friend, by the way.
Incidentally, I notice that Facebook has supplanted MySpace in media coverage lately, and I can’t help wondering whether Murdoch’s purchase of the latter is significant. (Non-Murdoch outlets now have a disincentive to promote MySpace.) Whatever the reason, at least Facebook looks nicer than an average MySpace page, and I’m not aurally assaulted by bad emo each time I visit someone’s profile!