I caved. I am weak. I joined Facebook. Despite Debbie’s plug that it is SOOOO much better than Friendster, until last week, I lived in the “that’s SOOOO 1999” Friendster realm. Even though I had a Friendster page and even dutifully filled out profile information, I could never quite make the full plunge to just click “add as friend” the former roommate of an acquaintance I ran into at DMV. I do not want to you add as friend. You are not my friend. Then again I was even reluctant to add people who actually are my friends. The whole thing was just weird. Given my ambivalence, my “friends” list hovered in the 20 range for years. As of last week, I’m SO over that (ok, I’ll stop with the caps). To riff off Stephen Colbert, I Am Web 2.0 (And So Can You). So if you’re reading this and are on Facebook, find me and “add as friend” even if I am the crazy person you were standing behind when the line at Berkeley Bowl stretched all the way to the olive bar. I am registered with my full name and gmail account.
I curse/praise Adam for crushing my resistance to Facebook. Curses for the time I’ve spent ignoring the 10th request to become a vampire slayer rock star. Then again, maybe I secretly want to be a vampire rock star…Praises to Adam for reconnecting me with some dear friends from high school and for creating one space (albeit cyber) in my life where I can hadouken anyone with impunity.
I agree with Debbie that Facebook is better than Friendster. The designers must have decided there’s no such thing as Too Much Information Available On A Single Web Page and ignored any design sensibilities that call for negative space. In a queer twist, (I've always wanted to use the word in that context), it actually engenders a feeling of anonymity even as I post all kinds of personal social network-y type information up there. I figure no one’s going to read this; folks are too busy creating only-online communities such as the Meiji Tofu Group, or buying each other imaginary drinks. Now that they’ve opened it up to other developers, I think we’ll be seeing even more hadouken enabling apps. We even may see some useful ones.
Gentle reader, do not think I am a Luddite, the next post will be fully tech embracing. Coming soon, Lunamania reviews random Web 2.0 apps: Twitter, Joost, Flickr, Picasa, Gallery2 and more...