Status Update

I saw a great Facebook profile photo a while back.  No, I wasn’t on Facebook.  In fact, I haven’t logged on since Fat Tuesday, nearly three weeks ago.  And I don’t really miss it.  The longer I go without it, the easier it is to avoid it and not care about logging on.  But I digress.  This photo I saw showed up on a Google image search, I believe.  I don’t recall what I was looking for, but for some reason this photo showed up.  It was a Flash graphic that read, “You don’t need Facebook,” at first, and then changed to, “Facebook needs you.”  I’ll attach it below if I can find it.* 

It’s a nice little adage, or protest, but the sad fact is, I still feel like I do need Facebook.  Yes, Facebook needs me and other people to use it in order for it to be worth anything.  And if everyone stopped using Facebook, Facebook would be obsolete.  But the truth is, Facebook is actually quite a handy little communication tool.  According to this, nearly 156 million people in the U.S. alone communicate via Facebook.  So inevitably, by not using it, I’m being left out of some things.  And I’m leaving my friends and acquaintances out of some things too. 

For instance, how am I supposed to let people know that I’ve just posted a new blog entry?  I could call, text, or email a bunch of people and attach a link to this page.  Or I could post the link on Facebook.  Obviously the second option is the simpler of the two.  But now, without access to Facebook, I’ll just have to post this and hope my friends and family will check my blog and find this.  No, I’m not going to email everyone with a link.

Similarly, if one of my friends on Facebook posts an interesting link, I’ll have to hope they did the same on Twitter, which only a small fraction of my Facebook friends use.  More importantly, if one of my friends is hosting a social gathering (in real life), it’s not likely I’ll find out about it.  Most of my friends send party or event invitations via Facebook, not email or text.  Although, right now I am thankful for the ones who text.

So, even though Facebook’s existence depends more on its users than its users’ existence depends on Facebook, its overwhelming popularity has made it a ubiquitous communication tool.  I’ll survive just fine without it, but there’s no doubt I’ll be just a little bit out of the loop until I start using it again.

*PS: I couldn't find it.  Maybe I didn't see it on a Google search, but just imagined it in a dream.  Anyway, here are a couple of other fun pictures.  I found the first one here. 

I'm including this one just because it cracked me up.

This one was on this web page. 

And finally, here's another one that made me laugh.