Thursday, March 13, 2008

Yes, yes, I finally did it

If you know me well, you may be surprised, even shocked at the subject of this post. Sadly, I have joined the juggernaut of social networking commonly known as Facebook. Yes, I know. Whatever reaction you are having to this is the same that all of my other friends (now Facebook friends!) have had. I think Jon Mullin said it best: "I feel dirty for you..."
Why, you ask? No good reason. I wondered what it was all about, so I thought I would give it a shot. Frankly, I still have yet to figure out what the point of Facebook is, but maybe it will take a few days. It's only function as of yet has been to waste my time. Is that the point? Please let me know.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

>It's only function as of yet has been to waste my >time. Is that the point?

In my words of Prof. Hubert J. Farnsworth, "Oh my yes"
-mullin

Kitchen Gangstas said...

I am glad you did.

Michael Faris said...

The point is there is no point.

Or, it's

a) easier than email and more exhibitionist than email to contact people

b) it's super easy to set up events and invite folks to them

c) it's a corporation taking over our identity.

;)

Pam said...

It's a crock of "shit" and a huge waste of time and that's all I have to say about that Nick. I am so ashamed...... Your mother!

*snickers*

fontgoddess said...

This is more true of MySpace, but here is my take on the point of Facebook and MySpace (and other similar "social networking" sites):

You build a shrine to yourself. You take all the things that are inside your head, your diary, or on your bedroom walls and you lovingly arrange them on your own personal billboard. Others come and light candles at your altar and you (maybe) reciprocate. Singular and mutual masturbation is the glue that holds the culture together; orgies are on Thursdays. The line between public and private is blurry to the point of being completely imaginary. I think our kids may look at these days the same way we think of drug culture and "free love" from the 1960s ("what were they thinking?" "I guess you had to be there . . .").

Facebook and MySpace are somewhat different than Blogger, Wordpress, LiveJournal, and other blog-based social networks in that written content (however vacuous bloggers may be) is not necessary, and is even discouraged through poor UI and design decisions.

We are now all courtesans at Versailles, with ourselves playing the royalty as well.

fontgoddess said...

Not to say that we aren't evolutionarily wired to do this and enjoy it a lot. And notice how I have long-standing accounts on Facebook, MySpace, LiveJournal, Blogger, etc. Just in case you thought I was against all this.