I just read yet another media article, this time in the WSJ, on the downsides of using social media tools such as Facebook. While the theme of this article is spot-on, it’s merely journalistic negativity to bash a new way of doing things.
Facebook is a great tool because you control how you use it. Yes, it’s rude not to accept a friend-request from a colleague, but you can do so in a way that they will never see your updates and you can choose not to see theirs’. They are essentially becoming an addition to your contact database where you can view their contacts too.
And if you find my status updates irritating, then turn off my updates, or de-friend me. I don’t want you… if you don’t want me. For every 20 great interactions I have, one person may get annoyed, or I may get annoyed by someone else. That person can then remove my updates, of I can remove theirs’, so that ratio now moves to thirty-to-one, and so on. Yes, Facebook newbies may be over-excited with their initial interactions, but they will quickly learn the etiquette of how to manage their social network. And if they don’t, then ease them out of your inner circle.
I love Facebook because, unlike Twitter, I control my environment. I choose who’s in there and I can develop mindless relationships with people I like (or just find amusing). My job is so busy, so intense, that the few minutes a day spent reading about what people have for lunch, what they think of Delta, or the severity of their hangover, is a pleasant relief after hours of discussing cost-containment measures with some finance director…
I now have friends I would never have had if it wasn’t for this silly application. True, nothing beats a pie-and-a-pint, but you can only do that with people in your home town. What’s more, I don’t always have time to pick up the phone to interact, and I certainly don’t have a lot of time for pies and pints these days. But a few seconds to type mindless banter with friendly folks? Works for me everytime…
