Facebook Rules!

I recently created a Facebook account to keep tabs on my daughter's Facebook account. I didn't expect to like Facebook at all, did not expect that I would spend much time on it. But I am.

Lo and behold, I have come to LOVE Facebook. I found that I could see what was happening in my nieces' lives without having to wait for an email from one of my siblings. I found a friend I had not spoken to in years, and we are making plans to see each other again when I go up north this fall.

The interface of Facebook is pretty easy. I agree that you have to be more 'real' than on other social networking sites. However, it seems you can limit who sees your stuff a lot better than on MySpace, which by the way, I absolutely abhor.

I didn't fall for giving all of the personal information in the profile - who in their right mind would do that (young teenage kids who don't think, that's who). I didn't even, yet, provide a photo of myself, instead choosing to embed one from a trip to DisneyWorld that doesn't have me in it.


My greatest teacher to all of the ins and outs of Facebook are my daughter and my nieces. I have found myself asking them questions about this and that, each little detail they might have on their pages that I don't have, etc. I like that a private message posted on my page from a 'friend' also comes intact to the email account I provided. And no, I did not give my email password out. Duh.


I think Facebook, for families separated by distance (and that means a lot of families these days), can be a wonderful way to share in all that's happening in all of the lives - one stop photo and message center (better than Flickr for that purpose, in my mind).


There are some caveats; something I heard recently about photos being able to be seen by visitors other than friends, which seems like a software flaw. And as with all social networking sites, you have to watch what you post. I am not thrilled that some of the teenagers in my 'friends' list tend to latch onto forums and things that have titles which I find inappropriate for my page, but which show up in the highlights, but that's the nature of teenagers.


I don't know if I would use Facebook for professional networking - I think I would rather used LinkedIn for that.