When I first joined Facebook I found it very exciting. I added new friends almost daily, and spent time checking out their pages, their pictures, the activities they were involved in. I chatted, changed my profile picture constantly, commented on everyone’s status and received comments in return.
Then slowly, things started to change. As time went on there were fewer comments on my status updates. I noticed that some of my friends just disappeared never to be seen or heard from again. There was no longer a flurry of activity on my page, but I was aware that for some of my friends this was not the case. They never lost the activity, the comments on their status updates, the friend requests and I realized that even in Facebookland, there is a popular group.
My cousin Heather is part of this group. She updates her status many times during the day and tweets constantly while her entourage hangs on her every word, showering her with praise and compliments over her pithy statements and pictures of her children.
Then there’s my friend Ronnie, also a member of the popular group, with his band of followers. An update from Ronnie might include a general comment about the 27 hours of overtime he is going to work today and he gets at least 6 “likes” and 14 comments.
Perhaps it’s the nature of my status updates. Generally they read something like this: “going to the grocery store” or “going to Starbucks” but even when something particularly exciting happens like “dog groomer coming today” the response is underwhelming.
So I deactivated my account and entered the Blogosphere.
The wonderful world of blogging. Where there is no competition for space, my words don’t get lost in a scrolling news feed, and my 9 loyal followers come here daily just to hear what I have to say. (Actually, I have no idea if they come here daily, but let’s go with that.)
Yes, this is my venue of choice. My own little slice of cyberspace pie where I can go on and on about every stray thought that enters into my head. A place where I can share my soul-searching journey with anyone who cares to read about it. And perhaps when I find what I am looking for I will have a status update worthy of comment.
Hi Deb! Yup, your peeps are reading your blog out here... sometimes wonder if I should comment or not!?! I want your thoughts to be your thoughts and not necessarily start a discussion... Keep it up... Oh, and if you can put parameters around it, then we can create the app...
ReplyDeleteHi Loyal Follower! Feel free to comment all you want, and if you could please create that app it would save me a lot of time... :)
ReplyDeleteAre we soulmates?:)
ReplyDeleteI am on and off Facebook...right now my account is deactivated and I love it that way! I have devoted several blog posts to Facebook myself!:)
I find that even more so than a popularity contest, it's a brag-fest that causes discontent because a lot of people seem to use it to point out what they have or are getting etc and I don't like the sense of competition it breeds.
Hope you have a great week!
Colleen, You're funny :) I'm going to have to check your blog for those posts. Looking forward to reading them!
ReplyDeleteEven though I am on facebook, I rarely post anything...I mainly joined because of my far away kids and I do have a large family and it's fun to see pictures of my great neices and nephews...but other than that I really don't care for it...have thought of deactivating my account too...I see the same things...people write the stupidest shit on there and they get tons of comments...I write something and I am lucky if one or two people notice...my kids are pretty busy so they aren't even on there all that often but if they are they will say something to their mom at least...lol...
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you started blogging and that I met you...you have written lots of great posts that I've enjoyed. :) So glad you joined us! XX