Saturday, January 10, 2009

Alliteration City: Facebook is for Friends

In a myriad of social networks, how do we decide which friends are for where? In an internet informational highway, how do we presume to know what personal information to post? How much is too much?

I remember when Facebook was solely a virtual space for my friends from Towson University and high school friends- a way to keep in touch intermittently through semesters. Because of this, my profile shaped up to be quite personal - a photographed documentary of my weekends, vodka consumption, spring break debauchery, last-semester celebrations, festivals, etc. Facebook was for high school friends, people I met along travels, and college friends. And for a long time, i kept it this way.

I had a rule: Linkedin is for industry contacts and facebook is for friends and twitter is for everybody who is interesting. I'm in the midst of a theoretical struggle, as of late. Okay- maybe that's a bit dramatic- i'm not losing any sleep. But in any event, here's the problem: Strangers are adding me on facebook. Many of them live in New York, are in social media/PR/advertising/web/SEO/communications/marketing/what have you, or we share 10+ friends in common. And still, strangers. Certainly not friends. To deny facebook friend status seems silly- i mean, come on. it's just facebook. And we have all of those friends in common. And yet still, do I want complete strangers to know exactly where I work, hang out, who i convene with, etc? I sort of flounder back and forth. Also, I feel like saying "no" is silly. After all, it's just facebook. See, i flounder even in this blog post.

If you read this blog, then you know that this is the year of the yes. So, therefore, i'm saying yes. And so, mister Wall Street Journal reporter and mister NY PR guy and miss search engine optimizer expert, fine- we can be facebook friends. But please don't stalk me, okay?

No comments: