Face to Facebook

(From the Janesville Messenger, 3-1-09)


“Jim Lyke is writing his Messenger column.”
- Facebook entry, February 23, 2009, 9:30 pm


Thanks to the latest craze on the Wonderful World Wide Web, anyone who is a member of the web site Facebook now knows exactly what I was doing (or trying to do) at that particular moment in time. And why would I want to inform the world of that? Um...good question.

I became aware of Facebook mainly because my high school-aged daughter spends approximately 27 hours a day on the site. And if you had told me as recently as two months ago that I would be wasting about half of my own waking hours on it, I wouldn’t have believed you.

Facebook is a social-networking website that was launched five years ago by a student at Harvard University. In that relatively short period of time, it has grown into an Internet juggernaut with over 175 million users worldwide.

Initially, the site was only for Harvard students, and then it expanded to include other colleges, and eventually, high schoolers. Now, however, anyone 13 or older with a valid e-mail address can join.

Just recently, I was surprised when several otherwise normal adults started telling me how much they enjoyed Facebook and encouraged me to join. I finally decided to see what all of the fuss was about.

The first order of business on Facebook is to create a profile page, which consists of the usual personal information - where you work, what you like, relationship status, etc. Everyone’s Facebook page has a profile picture, which becomes your personal identifier. Since the only halfway decent photo I have of myself sits at the top of this column – and it’s getting old – I chose a picture of John Belushi smeared with mustard in the “Animal House” toga party scene. It’s a reasonable facsimile of my appearance circa 1980. Beyond your profile, you can post other photos and videos as well.

Once that’s done, the next thing you have to do is find “friends.” You’re nothing on Facebook without friends. You can search for people you know and send them “friend requests.” The site helps you find potential “friends” by suggesting people who were in your high school class, work for your company, or are friends with your friends. Once someone confirms you as a friend, you can write messages to each other, chat online, send them virtual gifts, or just choose to “poke” them. More on that later.

When you log on to Facebook, you are asked, “What are you doing right now?” You fill in the blank, which alerts all of your friends about your status update, and they can then make comments in response. So on February 23, all of my friends knew I was starting to write this column, to which Forward Janesville’s Dan Cunningham responded, “Me, too!” The best status update I have seen so far is the simple but truthful, “Laura is updating her Facebook status.”

This site contains an incredible amount of ways to waste time. Besides messaging your friends, there are games, quizzes, surveys, fan clubs, etc. And whatever you do on the site is posted for all of your friends to see. Personally, I wouldn’t want the world to know that I took an actual Facebook quiz called “How Good Are You In Bed?” Especially since everyone would see the score.

I still haven’t figured out the “poke” thing yet, either. You poke someone. They poke you. The site then tells you that you’ve been poked. You are then offered a virtual cigarette. OK, I made that last part up. But as if that isn’t enough, I’ll sometimes get a message that “Jane Doe Has Been Super Pokin’!” Whatever that means, it just doesn’t sound right.

What’s been most interesting is reconnecting with people I hadn’t seen or heard from in a while. One of my first friend requests was from a high school classmate I hadn’t seen since graduation day. Even so, I honestly thought that I would get bored with Facebook after a week. But it’s strangely addicting.

I think I’ve figured out one reason Facebook is so popular: it’s the ultimate voyeurism. I know what you’re doing every day! I know who all your friends are! I know who’s been poking you! Instead of Facebook, it should be called Openbook, because that’s what your life becomes.

Maybe it’s coincidence, but since I’ve become a Facebook user, it doesn’t seem like my kids are on the site as much as they used to be. Will Facebook be another thing that parents ruin for their kids? That the teens flee from as soon as the adults embrace it?

Hmm...I’ll have to post that thought on my page.