facebook is a space
for sharing images
and messages
a nightly kiss
with those I miss
and I imagine
it's what gossip was
in a roman marketplace.

cynders! leave the ball,
the draughty hall,
step into the agora, waste
a little time with us!

facebook
 

Well said, Ann. My experience was similar, plus, some so-called friend penetrated Facebook security and gained access to my information, not once, but twice (my being stupid) I got out before a third attempt was made.

Unfortunately, Facebook seems to be swarming with a great many other people who are interested in selling a book, a concert, a tour, a crappy painting, a wonderful opportunity, and the like - and most of them seem to somehow be connected to, or friends of friends of, those fortunate individuals to whom i would like to sell my book. And there are far more of them than there are of me, and they have much more shit to sell, and often seem to do it through websites which are practically impossible to extricate oneself from without ending a sentence in a predicate. So I desist. It just isn't worth the hassle.

I started using it to keep in touch with family. But as time went on, I added by request (real) friends and (virtual real) friends. Step three, I asked some whom I don't know personally but greatly respect.

I almost never go there because there is so much yadda-yadda about what friends of friends had for breakfast and a gazillion issues that I am not at all interested in.

However when I do go there I always find something interesting posted by real and virtual friends and am especially glad to hear of publications by my friends. Sometimes, but not always, I tell my friend-world that I have had something published too and I value the comments immensely, as I hope my real and virtual friends value my comments and likes--when I do them.

I have to admit it. My virtual community is important to me, just knowing they are out there. It is hard if not impossible to know (as Ann) says if a friend has flown the coop. I don't tally how many are still with me on a daily or yearly basis. But even if you are gone Ann, you are not gone from the friend list written in my heart. So there.

But I admit was going batty there for a while what with notifications turning up in my email several times a day about spammy poems by friends of friends of friends ad infinitum and messages urging me to check out the latest breakfast menus my so-called wall and not being able to delete them. Sometimes there is a delete that works, sometimes not. And just when i thought I had learned it, I discovered I was playing in a whole new ballgame.

I am really, really of two minds about this. One of my daughters (who urged me to participate to start with) flew the coop, but she told us first so now we telephone.

Decisions, decisions, always decisions.

What Cally sang.

Nemo

Really, the only reason to have a lot of Facebook Friends is that when your next book comes out, you have an easy (and free) way to get the message instantly to all those people. Says the old cynic.

Janice,

These are all settings, which you can change, at your discretion. And the things Michael was complaining about? Also settings, which he could easily manipulate, to his heart's content.

Ann, I jumped into google plus as well. Most Americans seem to have abandoned it. I'm still on it because I have some overseas friends, mostly in Asia, who still seem to like it, perhaps for local reasons.

Oh, and please be careful with that reciprocating saw. I use mine for deconstructing things, like walls and pipes. They can reduce things right quick. I don't even need a sledgehammer anymore... ;)

Best,

Bill

You have to learn to use Facebook in a way that makes sense for you. With six hundred million people on Facebook, you naturally want to avoid most of them, but there are ways of limiting your exposure to people whose occasional company you find congenial, and when it works well, it really can't be beat. For example, you can be "friends" (unfortunate term that is not to be taken literally) with any number of writers, authors, or other people you admire. Authors who in the past would have been completely inaccessible are right there happy to accept your greetings and answer your questions or just exchange bad puns with you. If you have other spheres or interest, from charitable causes to hobbies to professional matters, it is also easy enough to limit your interaction to people who share those interests. My public library and my town both have Facebook pages, and it's a reliable and convenient way for me to make sure I'm aware of matters of local concern, from changes in garbage pickup to little league rescheduling to snow days. Yes, there are people who get addicted to Facebook and spend too much time there, but there are also many millions of people who stop by for just a few minutes at a time and use it as a sensible tool. The same could be said of Eratosphere, no? It has its uses, and it has its limits. It's not supposed to be everything, but that hardly means it is flawed.

This captures my feelings on much of the "networking" on Facebook:

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/facebook_likes

But really, if one approaches the thing for the networking per se, well, you'll get what's coming to you. As for me, I'll look at photos of Cally's living room and Nemo's mother's garden, followed by an internet chat with a long-lost friend in Europe, and before I log out, I might well post a picture of break-dancing midgets from my evening commute. Which is kind of cool, I think.

I am not techno-fearful. I am just busy and an admitted card-carrying procrastinator, and I know how much time I would end up spending on it.
Once I am finished with the commitments I have made to this degree program I will come join you all, promise.