E: On(line) my face

A few weeks ago I had never heard of Facebook.com. The site features ”a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them.” In other words; a huge online database of people who know each other. This is a home page supplement for those without a blog, and a great way to catch or keep up with people near and afar.

Normally I am pretty updated with movements and trends online, but this time it took over 112,000 members before I was one of them. In Norway the connection finder has not been that known or popular until very recently. After signing a little more than a week ago, my profile is already linked with 62 people from around the world, and the number is rising.

I have not explored all the opportunities and possibilities with this free service. Nor have I tried to search for every single person I may have had something to do with once upon a time. Although I joined because I found the offer interesting, there can be some downsides with this kind of service. First of all it may take heaps of time, either searching, updating or replying everyone. Secondly, as the number of people grows, it is one big puzzle to keep track of everyone if you use this to keep in touch. Third, adding friends will for many become a sport or competition to see who has the most, and destroy the whole purpose of linking one’s close contacts and join the groups which one affiliates. Fourth, for people with fewer friends it may be a way of meeting people, but could also be a new way of being exposed for a limited circle of friends (few good ones are better than many loose ones, but you know what I mean). This disadvantages aside, Facebook.com is seemingly a fast, convenient and appealing without delays and spam (so far).

I will stick to updating this blog as a primary data sender source, but probably still poke my face in the online book every so often to check on people I know. So if you are a friend of mine on Facebook, do add me now or when/if you decide to join (take the tour). If you want to keep in touch though, I recommend calling, writing, e-mailing or checking on this blog before using the site to message me. Absolutely best is if you wanna hang out or visit me – in real life.