RAW RANTS ON SOCIAL NETWORKING


My cousin Anna just had her baby 30 minutes ago! The tiny bundle of joy weighed some 3.2 kilograms and is already becoming the apple of Gran's eyes. You can see her practically oohing and cooing in the photos Daddy Cris just posted online. 30 minutes ago, you say? Yes, she just gave birth 30 minutes ago. But how can you know all this so fast when they live some 3,000 kilometers away? Answer: Facebook. Ah, the joy of the internet and social networks.

Let me tell you how my love affair with social networking started. Some time in 2003, I found myself obsessing over this website called Friendster. On it, I do a little bit of anonymous snooping around my contacts' profiles and see what have they been up to since I last saw or heard from them. I get to be jealous of the people and places that they visit and silently snicker at the unfortunate ones who have somehow managed to be couch potatoes   and junkies that they were, despite the years. Friendster evolved and for five years, I kept myself abreast of all my friends and frenemies' activities through that amazing little webpage with one click of the button.

Fast-forward 2007, Friendster has seen its demise. Sometime in late 2006, there was this similar little social network called Facebook. It was Friendster with a twist. Besides the usual profile, photos, and testimonials, you could post messages on your friend's wall for all to see. You can even make tiny little comments about each of the photos they uploaded if you wanted. The biggest appeal of Facebook for me was the amazing way it dealt with third-party applications. You could chat, play games, even buy stuff on Facebook! It was way more amazing than Friendster!

It's now late 2010 and here I am faced with the question, should I deactivate my social network profiles? I have some 500+ contacts on Friendster and about 700 friends on Facebook and that's not counting the frequent friend requests that I have to ignore all the time! I try not to be to obvious about it but there are moments when I feel that people just want to befriend me so they can look at my photos, and know tidbits of my private life. I confess of doing the very thing. Hey, it takes one to know one. And I have begun to realize how unproductive life can be with Facebook around. Instead of doing something useful with my time, like applying myself, I go around so-called friends profiles and do some snooping around, which seriously, when you think about it, is a total waste of precious time ✔. And time is something that I may not have in the near future. Do I deactivate and say goodbye to all my friends but somehow maintain a certain level of privacy? Should I really just keep my photos, blogs, and links to myself, my close friends and family? I am at crossroads.

The great musician John Mayer  explained in his blog the reason why he left the powerful social media, Twitter and some 3,700,0000 followers: “It occurred to me that since the invocation of Twitter, nobody who has participated in it has created any lasting art. Has any artist, since they’ve begun to give you daily insights into their life created their best work yet?” he asks. “Are the best writers of our time on Twitter? Those who decide to remain offline will make better work than those online,” declares Mayer, explaining that great ideas need time “to gather.” He makes sure to add that Twitter is still useful “for those who are trying to make a name for themselves” and hoping to “brand.”

I think what John Mayer wrote just about sums up what I feel. Who knows? The next time you log on Facebook, you won't find my name anymore. This note maybe a head's up. So you'll know. And then maybe, just maybe, we'll see each other in some other social media.

Bye for now. ❤