Dear Uncle Facey… January 29, 2010

So.

A very good facebook friend brought something to light in her blog today, and this I guess is kind of a response to the questions she was asking… or at least how I interpreted her blog.

Facebook came into my life around the time I was leaving school and gaining a life.

I had moved away from my family and new friends, and back to Sydney were I grew up. Only problem was I was, in fact, no where NEAR where I grew up. I was working in the city and living on the beach.

So I had friends from school in Sydney, friends I had made in Newcastle, Family and new friends and all of them were added to Facebook. Even mutual friends soon adorned my page. Pretty soon I had 400+ friends, countless news feeds and LOADS of “Facebook friends”. I thought I was pretty cool.

This friend “collection” just kept continuing, meet new people, add them to Facebook, never see them again.

It gives a false sense of popularity. Not that I ever considered myself to be popular by any means, but it did make me believe I was a more social person than I was. Its okay that I was sitting at home, drinking, watching Sex and the City re-runs (again) because I had 400 friends I could live through… besides Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte are my best friends anyway.

After discussing a work colleagues lack of Facebook (this was a foreign concept to me) she made a great point. We work in a corporate, yet close knit, industry. We go to functions. We network. We meet new people. Yet, we also hang out with our friends, get trashy and record ALL these things on a wall which they can all see.

Basically, your work peers see the drunken trashy you and your friends see the boring corporate stiff you. These two sides should not be seen together. I took this advice onboard and did a thorough clean up. I deleted 327 friends.

I should say “Friends”.

These were people I met through work, at parties, out and about, friends of friends and even some clients – mostly people I had met once, clicked accept and never thought about them again. Yet, they then have access to my whereabouts, what – and who - I am doing and not so flattering tagged images. Not very professional.

Since deleting all these people I am more me. I am more honest. I am more comfortable. I use it to socialise more. I get out of the house more. Facebook is now another option of communication. I can write on a friends wall, invite them to an event and poke fun at pictures, basically just a more detailed text.

Facebook is a part of my day. I look forward to checking it and seeing what other people are up to but I no longer rely on it to LIVE for me.

I do that.