Can Someone Explain Facebook/Twitter?

[deeaimond]

I am from the generation they term tech natives (as opposed to tech migrant). Even I didn't have facebook at first because i thought it was some silly rubbish like myspace (terribly hard to navigate) or friendster (lots of random people trying to be yr 'friend')

I joined FB a few years ago when they finally opened it to institutions outside the US. before all the applications started appearing. The Apps drive me nuts. I love FB because I get to keep track of what friends are doing. I have more than 500 friends on FB (how did that happen?), but these are all people i actually know. I have a rule that I only add people that I have actually met. So friends from various schools, old church friends, some colleagues, some relations etc.

With 500+ plus friends, you don't check all of them out all the time, but sometimes, i think of someone, i might not be able to make a random call, but I can at least check out their photos, maybe leave a comment on a photo or say hello in a call. Its a good way to keep aquaintances because you never really know when you might need a connection or two.

On a personal level, I guess everyone can choose how much information you put out there. My page is restricted to only those I have added as friends. People I don't mind showing my travel photos, or occasional shoutouts to. I don't put pictures of a personal nature, like boyfriend pics or stuff i think is too sexy/ will give the wrong impression of me. Just bear in mind its stuff u won't mind showing yr mother. (my bf is also very paranoid about privacy on fb and i get the occasional call from him to watch certain things i say or post. 'my sister can see this hon and what will she think about you??')

fortunately for me, my parents and most older relations have not jumped on this bandwagon, and most people on my FB are restricted to people in my social circle/peers - I have my sister on, but my brother... no..

I don't use it as much as when i was in college, coz now i'm super busy and i don't really use 3G phone technology so much. But its a good way to catch up with friends.

I guess if you had 5 friends you want to talk to, and you're familiar with their lifestyles and schedules you can just call... but.. 500... I hardly have time for calls. Only call my bf, and occasionally my best friends. But we're not good over the phone. We'll usually just meet up in person and go for dinner pr something. FB allows me to keep contact without making anyone feel slighted I guess...

[shootingstar]

I joined FB a few years ago when they finally opened it to institutions outside the US. before all the applications started appearing. The Apps drive me nuts. I love FB because I get to keep track of what friends are doing. I have more than 500 friends on FB (how did that happen?), but these are all people i actually know. I have a rule that I only add people that I have actually met. So friends from various schools, old church friends, some colleagues, some relations etc.

With 500+ plus friends, you don't check all of them out all the time, but sometimes, i think of someone, i might not be able to make a random call, but I can at least check out their photos, maybe leave a comment on a photo or say hello in a call. Its a good way to keep aquaintances because you never really know when you might need a connection or two.

On a personal level, I guess everyone can choose how much information you put out there. ...............................................................................

fortunately for me, my parents and most older relations have not jumped on this bandwagon, and most people on my FB are restricted to people in my social circle/peers - I have my sister on, but my brother... no..

I'm totally amazed by 500 acquaintances that you've met and got in FB network and actually allow this networking. Just how long (and lucky) will you remain if senior family generation never gets into FB networking?

Ok. If I include my 100+ relatives in North America who can read English, not the ones who are Chinese-language literate only (Forget about relatives in China, I can't read Chinese.), plus friends I still keep in touch, face-to-face cycling acquaintances would be under 250.

If I included work colleagues (heaven forbid), that would amount to 500..over last 10 yrs.

[deeaimond]

I'm totally amazed by 500 acquaintances that you've met and got in FB network and actually allow this networking. Just how long (and lucky) will you remain if senior family generation never gets into FB networking?

Ok. If I include my 100+ relatives in North America who can read English, not the ones who are Chinese-language literate only (Forget about relatives in China, I can't read Chinese.), plus friends I still keep in touch, cycling acquaintances here that would be under 250.

If I included work colleagues (heaven forbid), that would amount to 500..over last 10 yrs.

Like i said, i think its a generational thing. Most of the people I know are also tech natives. work colleagues are probably 10% of the 500. The rest are friends from school etc. 90% of the 500 are under 30 yrs of age, and Its safe to say 70% are under the age of 25... (no one under 21 though i think...) I draw a strict line at adding students. When my kids ask me, my standard reply is 'no i don't add students on facebook.' They always look quite stunned. I don't know what under-12s are doing on facebook. That is unsafe use to me...

[ny biker]

If I opened it up to everyone I know from high school and college that I've found on facebook, I would easily be in the hundreds. But then it would be "aquaintancebook" not facebook.

I have 4 teenage relatives on my friends list. I try not to embarrass them, but I do pay attention to what they're up to just to keep an eye on them. They all have other adult relatives on their friends lists, which I imagine is required by their parents.

[shootingstar]

It's ok, deeiamond I've already provided enough transparency of some stuff about myself..to TE forum. Otherwise I would be just a cycling machine. Even if one is not using FB or using much of it now/future, they 'give' abit of themselves to participate in Internet forums and listservs with some discretion.

That's enough transparency about myself (outside of the work/career), as far as I'm concerned right now. I doubt my niece and nephew who are 24 & 22 , care much about their auntie's photos about life in Vancouver. Great people but at this stage in life, they're too busy carving their own lives and cutting the apron strings from home.

Come to think of it, I should ask if my partner's children are on FB. Even his son, at 29 doesn't send much email to dearie. He prefers to call on his cellphone. I would say that his son is simply less text oriented whereas his daughter 31, is much more inclined to email ..she did her Master's in English Lit., loves sudoko (sp?), teaches ESL, enjoys wordsmithing, etc. They are a generation that played electronic games heavily, takes apart the computer, etc.

People cannot be easily lumped into categories due to just generational affiliation.

[Crankin]

Shootingstar, your "heaven forbid" made me laugh out loud. Yea, I guess if I counted former work colleagues (not all of them, just the ones I actually worked with), I might get to between 100-200. I don't even talk to the people from my last job, which was only 2 years ago. And one was what I consider to be a real friend. Yesterday I got an "SOS" call from the new principal, saying they had a "situation" and wondered if I would be interested in filling in. I feel so far away from that life, I did call back to say no, but at first I thought, "Why are they calling me?"
Yes, I really only have 5 friends. Real friends. Ones that I see, talk to, go out with, ride with (well, 2 of them). The rest, well, are acquaintances. I might go out with them occasionally and email/talk once in awhile, but they are more casual friends. There are also people I ride with once in awhile and people from my cycling group. All very nice, but no deeper friendships have developed there. I know a lot of people in the area, and constantly have people to say hi to at the grocery store, etc., but they are not friends.
I can't imagine having 500 friends. I don't know 500 people!

[deeaimond]

Hmm... I never reaLLY email anyone either. In fact i only email for work. email is very time-consuming. i rather just call and the person can respond right away. i live with my parents and i hardly call my grandmas...

And yes. i think its quite an aquaintance-book. But mostly some kind of friend.. there are about 200 people who i dont really care for on my fb.. but then i'm too lazy to delete them all.... I guess i will one day. (plus i wanna look at their pictures! even though i dont really wanna talk to them or have anything to say to them!)(i know i'm gonna get flamed for this. can i blame youthful curiousity?)

but i guess the difference i have seen in this thread and reading responses is that once u reach a certain place in life, u don't really need too many people ard you anymore. it all becomes very superficial. at college i felt like i had to know everyone. now i dont even care too much just wanna be closer to the people i already know. I mean, now i don't know for sure i don't need the help of these people anymore. i don't feel like i can afford to burn any bridges yet.

no i'm not an ageist! anyone wants to add me on FB? I have no TE friends there!

[deeaimond]

Shootingstar, your "heaven forbid" made me laugh out loud. Yea, I guess if I counted former work colleagues (not all of them, just the ones I actually worked with), I might get to between 100-200. I don't even talk to the people from my last job, which was only 2 years ago. And one was what I consider to be a real friend. Yesterday I got an "SOS" call from the new principal, saying they had a "situation" and wondered if I would be interested in filling in. I feel so far away from that life, I did call back to say no, but at first I thought, "Why are they calling me?"

Hahha, i know why! they're desperate, the new P doesn't know u in particular, just that u taught there before. they found yr name in the old staff records they found. I'm kinda glad u said no.

on a side note, i think i'm having to teach primary 1 next year, and i'm freaking out.... they are 6 yrs old!!!!!!!!! ARRRGGGHHHHHHH I don't have the option of saying NO!

[bluebug32]

I don't think Twitter receives enough good attention. Facebook blatantly stole Twitters feed idea. Through my Twitter feed, I am routinely fed my local weather, coupons for places I actually shop at, tech and news updates, updates on the latest in my profession, what my friends are up to, and also what pro cyclists are up to. No where else can you so precisely fine tune what information you want to receive. When the airplane landed in the Hudson this year, it broke on Twitter before any of the news outlets had a photo or even a headline. I agree that it's a waste to know what my friend ate for breakfast or that Lance's mustache for Movember is a slow-grower, but if you're able to dig a little deeper, there's a wealth of quick bits of info. at your fingertips.

[SLash]

I don't think Twitter receives enough good attention. Facebook blatantly stole Twitters feed idea. Through my Twitter feed, I am routinely fed my local weather, coupons for places I actually shop at, tech and news updates, updates on the latest in my profession, what my friends are up to, and also what pro cyclists are up to. No where else can you so precisely fine tune what information you want to receive. When the airplane landed in the Hudson this year, it broke on Twitter before any of the news outlets had a photo or even a headline. I agree that it's a waste to know what my friend ate for breakfast or that Lance's mustache for Movember is a slow-grower, but if you're able to dig a little deeper, there's a wealth of quick bits of info. at your fingertips.

I recently started using Twitter and in some ways I like it better than FB, do you know of a good guide or website for using Twitter. Most of the ones I have come across have to do with using Twitter for business purposes, not what I am interested in. Thanks.

[lph]

I like that rule. I will start to use it as it is so very true.

This is what they say in general about Facebook, whenever inappropriate use comes up in the media: "don't publish anything that you wouldn't want to find pinned to the nearest lamppost for all your neighbours to see".

[Crankin]

Deeaimond, actually the new principal does know me. We were hired at the same time, in 1999, both being quite above the experience and age for new hires in teaching (that's what I loved about my last employer. They hired by need, not by how much they had to pay). He just forgot that I was in grad school, doing something else.
I was in your position once. I got involuntarily transferred from the middle school to an elementary school. Since I was a special ed collaborative teacher, the new principal wisely decided to assign me to work with 4th and 2nd grade. She took one look at me and knew it was best not to put me with first graders. The second grade was a learning curve of about a semester, but it was actually OK.

[OakLeaf]

Another example - not a new usage, but the first time I've seen integration with "old media:"

Late yesterday afternoon two local high school students were killed in a car accident. The newspaper's web report of the accident has a link to a Facebook memorial page. As of this morning the group already has 750 members.

Thankfully I haven't lost anyone close since adopting FB, but I can say that when I lost my dogs it was hugely helpful to be able to go to online pet loss support sites whenever I was struggling with the grief. I can totally appreciate how much comfort bereaved friends must find on these memorial sites. Not to have to call someone up and burden them without knowing their mood, but to be able to read and post pictures and memories, chat with friends who are already online, etc.

[Tuckervill]

Yes, recently a teenager in my town committed suicide. I found out about it on Facebook. We didn't know the boy, but many of my son's friends and our baseball friends knew him and were simply devastated.

It happened during the week before the date of an annual walk I participate in to raise money for research to prevent suicide; I was able to get a message across on Facebook about this important work to people who were in deep need of the resources this organization provides. I wouldn't have had that access to this family otherwise.

I can only hope that some of his family or friends found the information they needed through that organization. Certainly I hope it means there are no copy-cat suicides in his wake.

Karen

[NbyNW]

+1 re sharing news, mourning, and memorializing.

One of the longtime music teachers where I grew up passed away earlier this year. When I was going to school, the music program was such that many students who were studying an instrument might have worked with him from 4th grade all the way through high school, so he had a meaningful impact on a lot of students. A lot of kids where I grew up move away after college, like I did, so many of his students are far and wide. A couple of FB pages sprung up after the news circulated where people could post their condolences and memories of this wonderful teacher.