CPL 2.0 Facebook

"Is Facebook useful or a time waster?"

I was quite amazed when I first set up my Facebook account - a whole screen of "suggested friends" were suddenly displayed. A little spooky to think that this "entity" has wormed its way into my address book or email list.

I told my 15 and 13 year old sons that they had to be my "friends". Quelle horreur! My 13 year old however, did eventually acquiese and promptly sent out a message to all his friends - "keep it clean guys, my Mum's on Facebook!" He took on the role of teacher and showed me all the important things such as how to use the emotional weather report.

It could be quite the time waster - using all the little applications. In fact I'm quite keen to set up a map showing the places I've been.

It could also be useful, as the following example shows.
I just wanted to have a few friends to begin with - no point in showing off how naiive I am to the entire world. I selected my younger brother (who lives in Australia) and sent him a friend request. This is a fellow who apparantly finds it difficult to write a letter, pick up a telephone or sign on and send an email. Within the hour he had "accepted" my request, and while I was having my lesson with my son, my brother initiated a conversation via the little chat thingy.

My brother said he likes Facebook because he can just read what people have been up to. I confirmed with my teacher, "So, people just write what they're having for dinner and what their plans are for tomorrow, and then others read it?"
"Yup" he said. "And then they can comment on it, if they want to."

So, people - your "friends", can keep in touch with you, without having to actually resort to having a conversation, or any sort of dialogue in fact! Hmmmm.

Well, if that's what it takes to "keep in touch" with my family, I guess I'll keep trying it out!