More Facebook evangelizing

Recently I experienced another mini immigration of folks to Facebook. Mostly some relatives. This seems to be a trend, every couple of weeks a few more people join up. Which is cool. I really enjoy having all of these acquaintances. And it is super convenient to see what is going on in some people's lives, and make connections. Like today James and Daniel are having a 'play date' (I really despise that term and concept but what are you gonna do?) with some kids from school that was arranged via Facebook. So how fitting that his happens the same day I find this article:


Everyone else is on Facebook. Why aren't you? - By Farhad Manjoo - Slate Magazine

This article covers just about every argument I have heard from the many people I know who aren't on Facebook. The 2 exceptions are people who aren't 'wired' like my wife and other members of my family who basically never touch a computer. And there are other people who just got fed up with all of the notifications and application requests. I think that is the easier one to defeat: just minimize what notifications you want to receive.

I know I can't control people who basically never touch a computer or e-mail, like Kim, or my mother in law or sister in law. Getting them to login to a computer is rare enough that any thought of something like Facebook is just foreign.

However, I have one friend who joined Facebook not long after I did, and then he ended his account. His reasoning was he got tired of all the notifications and application request etc. Well there are ways to minimize the intrusiveness of the notifications. And the application requests have actually declined considerable in the past year for some reason. So I don't really buy this argument. I think that if you want to keep in touch with someone, and you already communicate via e-mail then there is no reason not to join Facebook and link up with the same friends there. I am in much better contact with some people I would otherwise never hear from, like some of my cousins, I know what they are doing and what their life is like. And I can utilize it like a vast rolodex when I want as well.

Google and Facebook battle for your friends. - By Michael Agger - Slate Magazine

Most of this article deals with things most people don't care about. But it does bring up a very good point. As more and more of my friends come on to Facebook, and as I add new friends via Facebook connections, what happens if FB shuts down? Or if I change my environment, losing the daily connection of FB? Or if a group of friends moved to another network? All viable questions.

For now I will content myself with not worrying about it, and keep up the Facebook connections. And figure that the market and the smart people who run Google and Facebook will work these things out. Because the dream of the Google guy in this article is a good one, and it make sense from a marketing perspective as well as just a utopian dream. It makes sense, from all the sci-fi and cyberpunk fiction I have read that the idea of a 'digital identity' is an eventual result of all this technology