This year has been really busy for me. I know I had made a promise to write a blog every week for this year. However, I just couldn’t keep up with it. Instead I decided to write whenever time permits and obviously when I have a topic at hand.
I wanted to write something about Facebook for a very long time now. I’m pretty sure a lot of us are on Facebook. Sometimes it’s a time waster, while sometimes it’s a great way to stay in touch with your friends. With all the recent changes going on with Facebook, I thought it’s the best time to write something about it too.
Facebook vs Google Plus -
I am on Facebook as well, along with the other networking sites – Twitter, LinkedIn and more recently Google+. I have always admired Google for whatever new they have come up with, and Google + is pretty much combination of social networking, and everything you already do with Google such as – sharing photos, chat, video chat (Google hangout), and their privacy settings are much more clearer and self-intuitive than Facebook. I liked Google Plus. Be it Google’s first attempt at a social networking site – orkut or the latest – Google Plus, they have always been trying to compete with Facebook however. Some stats on Google Plus -
Read more about the growing rate of Google Plus here -
Facebook Friends, status messages, Photo sharing –
I call myself an active Facebook user, as I use Facebook (login and check newsfeed etc) at least 2 times a day. I come home in the evening and check Facebook after work on a typical day. On a weekend, I get my cup of coffee and login into email and then Facebook. So probably I’m a loyal Facebook user?
One biggest problem I have had with Facebook all the time is how loosely it interprets the word ‘friend’. To me a friend is someone whom I can rely upon. However, I’m not sure how many of the 120+ friends I have on Facebook I can actually rely upon. And if you are a ‘friend ‘on Facebook I would think you would at the very least, write on my wall, comment on a post, or a photo or wish me on my birthday or interact with me in some way rather than just being a number of my friend’s list. I see Facebook as a great networking tool, however if only 20-30 people interact with me more often and if there is no interaction between the rest of my ‘friend’s and me, how am I or you “networking” (if that’s what Facebook is for).
With all these recent changes happening in Facebook, how do we keep up with it? You login one day and the site is all changed. You hate it, you love it, but if you want to be on Facebook you have to get around it! Most likely it’s to get people to stay on Facebook and compete against Google Plus?
Recently with all the changes going on with Facebook, they introduced a feature supposedly that will be good for you – Facebook timeline.
Read more about the article here – http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2011/09/facebook-new-timeline-feature-makes-it-easier-to-find-who-defriended-you/ .
Now you might want to think twice before you want to quietly ignore a friend request or ‘defriend’ someone because you haven’t spoken to them in years…I would think if you want to delete a friend from your friends list, hmmm…wouldn’t you want to keep it quiet and delete them silently?
Some humor
There’s a YouTube video about “Facebook in real life”. Do watch the video and enjoy it which will surely bring in some giggles 
Are you on Facebook? How active are you? Are you able to keep up with the updates in Facebook?
Have you heard of Google +? Are you on Google +?
And my love relationship with Facebook – posting a link to my blog on Facebook!
Sep 25, 2011 @ 10:34:48
I liked that video, nice one!
The article is also very nicely worded but I’m sure you’ll agree that different people have different perceptions on who they want to call a friend. I only allow people I know to join my FB. I have little over 150 friends and they not necessarily are in touch with me all the time but it’s good to feel that they’re there; they’re connected with me and only a message away. I have heard so many stories in news on how people have found their long lost friends/relatives. I think this is the power of Facebook/Goole+. I have found so many old school friends in India and every time I found one, I have blessed Facebook! For this reason, FB is like a jewel box for me where I keep all my precious gems (friends) only to check them out when I think of them. However, it’s not all happy stories with FB for me. I have found a friend I had lost during my uni days but I can only see her and can’t message her or anything as she has disabled all of those features from her FB’s public page. It feels like I can see her through a sound proof glass while she is looking into another direction. How sad!
For the newsfeed in FB, you cannot possibly catch-up with every single ones so I generally browse through and pick-up things that interests me. This is just like you are browsing through a news paper and read the news that interests you.
I like the word “Circle” in Google+. I’m not sure how commonly this word is used elsewhere but in India (where I grew up till I was 15) one would often hear the term “friend circle”.
The timing of this article is very appropriate. Well done! By the way, in one of your previous articles you said you would post something about your spiritual side, I’ll be waiting for that article!
P.S. Watch that movie “Social Networking” if you haven’t already!
Sep 25, 2011 @ 20:07:35
Sorry, typo there, the movie name is “The Social Network”, not social networking
Oct 09, 2011 @ 01:17:19
i have a facebook account but i’m not active user. I probably checking it like once a week.. yeah…
I have 700+ friends, before i realize my timeline annoyed me.. So’ i stop checking it frequently… I didn’t have too much time to silently delete them yet…
I haven’t try google+ yet. I heard it’s has great feature, but i’m not sure if i need more social networking account…