I was initially reluctant to get on Facebook but now I feel like it's a great way to stay in touch, since I seem to move to a new city every few years. If you're lucky enough to have a real face-to-face community in your life and you feel that FB is not for you, then good for you and you're probably not missing out on anything. But I have found that every time I move it takes time to build that local support network. And FB is a great way of NOT leaving that network behind, just because you happen to move far away.

I got roped in because a friend of mine was doing some fundraising and if she had x number of donations through FB there would be a matching donation. So I created an account and then did nothing with it for another three months.

Then my siblings (who are on the other side of the continent) got into my network, and other friends from the past. And initially I felt like I don't need this drain on my time, but after losing a childhood friend to leukemia a few years ago I now feel that it's kind of nice knowing that people I went to grade school with are out there doing good work and raising their families. And it's also fun reading the quirky thoughts of far-away friends instead of a Christmas letter that provides highlights but none of the essence of that friendship.

My professional association decided to start communicating with our membership on FB, and as part of the executive committee I had to sign up for the updates and then my professional world started to leak into my FB network. Being "friends" with professional colleagues can present some awkwardness, but I deal with that with privacy settings and being thoughtful about my posts.