Facebook Privacy Issues

The Wall Street Journal ran a disturbing article that provided details about an investigation that they ran on Facebook regarding privacy issues. Take a look at this:

Many of the most popular applications, or "apps," on the social-networking site Facebook Inc. have been transmitting identifying information—in effect, providing access to people's names and, in some cases, their friends' names—to dozens of advertising and Internet tracking companies, a Wall Street Journal investigation has found.

The issue affects tens of millions of Facebook app users, including people who set their profiles to Facebook's strictest privacy settings. The practice breaks Facebook's rules, and renews questions about its ability to keep identifiable information about its users' activities secure.

The Journal ties this into companies that are building databases that track user activities online. The article says that 10 of the most popular apps on Facebook were transmitting user ID information to other companies. One of the bigger names that was listed was Zynga, the maker of Farmville,Texas HoldEm Poker and FrontierVille.

Good old Zynga whose CEO Mark Pincus says "I Did Every Horrible Thing In The Book To Just Get Revenue Right Away." (Hat tip to Jessica Gottlieb for the video below)



His behavior is shameful and reprehensible. He talks about controlling his destiny as if that justifies his bad behavior. It reminds me of the discussion my son and I had following his soccer game last week. To recap, we were short one referee so the father of one of the players on the other team stepped in and did his best to ensure that his son's team could not lose the game.

Needless to say my son and his teammates were irate as were the parents. I am a hard nosed competitor and out on the field I do my best to give you all that you can handle but I don't want to win at any cost. And I don't want my children to be taught that it is ok to employ a Machiavellian strategy in life either.

Zynga is rightfully being sued for their actions here as is Facebook.

Lawsuits in California and Rhode Island are taking aim at Facebook and its largest application maker, Zynga, alleging that they violated federal law by sending identifying information about their users to advertisers and Internet tracking companies.

The lesson/reminder here is that it is important to pay attention and monitor the services and sites that you use online.

Facebook Follies- Poke Me

This is an open letter to the friends, acquaintances, colleagues and general riff-raff who have friended or been friended by me on Facebook. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology and the amazing magicians who feed the hamsters that keep the internets running we have a stronger connection between us than we might have in the past.

That is a roundabout way of saying that just because you have greater access to me than you might have 20 years ago I am not anymore interested now in you having unlimited contact than I was then. In fact I am probably less tolerant of that incessant tweeting and chirping than I was then when I had no responsibilities other than myself.

So let's establish some ground rules here, shall we. Poking me is obnoxious and generally something that I prefer to leave to those whose pokes I enjoy in a more, festive manner. As a general rule of thumb let's say that you shouldn't poke me with any more frequency than you would telephone me. This is good for the very few people who can call me five or more times a day.

If you are in that class it means that we never run out of things to talk about and or we are in love or related to each other. So, you can feel free to poke me all day long. Just remember that I may return the favor and poke you all night long. Turnabout is fair play, is it not.

The Facebook chat function is a great tool that I happen to like a lot. It allows for quick and easy conversation that is a bit more involved than the poke but not so difficult as to require a telephone call. But like its little brother poke it needs to be used carefully.

Don't buzz me every 20 minutes to say "what's up" or ask what I am doing. And by all means do not ever try to interrogate me about why it takes me so long to respond to you. I am well aware that there is an icon that shows whether we are active or sleeping. The fact that my icon shows that I am active and that this makes you wonder if I am truly busy or ignoring you.

If you have to wonder if I am ignoring you than chances are that I am. Initially I might have been doing so because I was involved in work matters, you know the thing that I do that pays the bill so that I can my ISP so that you have the privilege of poking me ten thousand times.

But it is entirely possible that your incessant poking and need to try and get my attention has pushed me to the point at which I ignore you.  A while back I probably would have unfriended you but knowing how crazy you get I have no interest in getting ten thousand emails asking why I did so.

Instead I'll take advantage of Facebook's custom privacy settings and adjust them so that you have limited access to me. It is actually a nifty trick that I have used more than once.

And let's be clear once and for all. Stop sending me stupid requests to help build you Farm, help your Mafia or Eat at your restaurant. Because if I had my way my mafia would burn your damn farm down, my pirates would plunder your village and the health department would shut down your restaurant.

And with that I bid you all adieu and Happy Facebooking.

Some Thoughts About Facebook

Did She Die?

Sometimes I despise the sterility of email. The cold and unfeeling manner of text sent via electronics. You can be a master wordsmith and still fail miserably in your attempt to fill your words with warmth, caring and love.

I was on Facebook and I noticed that a friend had posted a photo album in memory of a sibling. As you might have guessed I am not especially close with this person. We are friendly and connected on Facebook because we did. The reason doesn't really matter.

Anyway, many years ago I was friendly with their sibling but we lost touch. It must be 15 years or so since we last spoke. I was more than a little surprised to see this photo album. It didn't offer any explanation about what happened, but it is hard to believe that someone would write in memory of about someone who is alive.

When I saw it I was shocked. They were my age and I was quite anxious to find out what happened. I don't have a telephone number for my friend on Facebook and didn't want to email them just to ask for it. We don't have any mutual friends that I can contact to ask what happened.

I tried running a search but didn't locate any information. But I couldn't just ignore it. So I sent an email and asked what happened. I tried hard to write something appropriate, but I am not sure that such words exist.

It was far more tactful than the headline of this post. And now I find myself wondering what the answer to the question is. What happened and how. It throws me a bit. It is Elul, won't be long before it is time to chant Unataneh Tokef.

So many questions.

She Died- Death Notices Via Facebook

I often write about different the world that my children are growing up is from that which I experienced. But I don't often really stop to think about the affect and impact those changes have upon me. Tonight life decided to remind me that I don't live in a vacuum.

Tonight's lesson came courtesy of Facebook. A little after 11 PM I signed on and learned that my great aunt had died. I didn't receive the new via a direct message or email. Rather I learned because my cousins had changed their statuses to mention her passing and to honor her.

It was a bit surreal and it took a moment to sink in. My aunt was the older sister of my grandmother. She was approximately 18 months or so older, although for the past 25 years or so she tried to insist that she was younger.

I can't really say that she was taken too soon because 97 is a nice long life. But I can say that she was a very special lady. This means that my grandmother is the last member of her family, all of her parents and siblings are gone now.

It is a surreal experience learning about death via Facebook. In some ways it was incredibly impersonal and yet in others it felt a bit more intimate. So many comments poured in from family that even though we weren't together it seemed otherwise.

Because I got the news so late in the evening I haven't any idea as to whether my parents or siblings are aware of this. I rather suspect that my mother will call me early tomorrow to let me know. She'll be shocked to learn that I already heard the news and especially surprised to learn how.

Well, changes impact us all. I'll miss my aunt, she was a special lady and a lot of fun. Baruch Dayan Emet.

Facebook- A Generation Gap

One of the things that I find interesting about blogging is how a seemingly innocuous post can lead to another or a series of posts. When I wrote Let's Marry For Money I didn't have any intention of riffing off of it again. It was supposed to be one and done.

But people plan and god laughs so here is the skinny on how this all happened. CNN linked back to the post which sent a slew of traffic here. I noticed the traffic and went to CNN and saw that a few other people had blogged about the story and decided to check out what they had said.

So I stumbled onto a blog called Kiss and Type where I came across a post that grabbed my attention with the remark below:

I personally wouldn't get involved with someone who didn't have a facebook page. To me it is a huge red-flag. My immediate thought is, "what does this person have to hide?".

It caught my eye because for a long time I didn't bother with Facebook or Twitter or a number of other social media devices. It wasn't because I had anything to hide but because I didn't see the value proposition in them. They didn't offer anything to me other than another thing that would serve as a time suck and since my time is/was so limited I was hesitant to get involved in them.

For a moment I was bit nonplussed by all of this and I found myself shaking my head. It seemed so obvious to me that this was a silly line of thought on her part. But when I stopped to think about it I realized that there are some dramatic differences between us.

She is 24 and single.

I am 40, married and have two kids.

On a side note in our youth obsessed culture I have to acknowledge that I don't like the way that it looks. I may be 40, but I don't feel 40. I still see myself as a twenty something year old guy, but I digress.

Anyhoo, it occurred to me that maybe there is a Facebook generation gap. Now I am cool with there being a generation gap between my kids and I, that makes sense, it is natural.

But am I really old enough to say that there is a generation gap with the twenty somethings of the world? Well I guess that the answer is, sort of.

If I wanted to list my old man credentials I could point out that I was born just prior to man walking on the moon, no smoking sections were the equivalent of being environmentally friendly and people who thought that Pet Rocks and Lava Lamps were cool. Ok, I still like Lava Lamps, but I digress.

We didn't have call waiting, answering machines, cell phones, a PDA referred to affection between two people and hip hop was something that frogs did. In fact we didn't have roller coasters, when we wanted excitement we just flung ourselves off the top of a cliff and bounced our way down the side of the mountain.

I grew up in a world in which cleveland hadn't won a sports championship and was made fun of. Ok, some things haven't changed. Sorry Ezzie. ;)

What can I say, it really does feel strange, but if Facebook disappeared I wouldn't notice. And I certainly wouldn't be surprised to hear that someone didn't have a Facebook page because about a third of my friends still don't.

It is a different world out there now.

Facebook Follies- Too Many Notifications

It is time for another edition of Facebook Follies, the blog posts that provide you with the key information you need to become a master of Facebook.

Ok, that is an exaggeration. Most of these Facebook posts are commentary about it, but some of them do include practical information. Take what you will from them.

Anyhoo, let's move on and talk about Facebook Notifications. Many of us have friends who use Facebook extensively throughout the day. They take every quiz that comes along and publish the results filling our news feed with all sorts of useful information about what state they should live in, what kind of fruit/animal/superhero they are and so much more.

I don't know about you, but I find it to be a bit tedious, tiresome and obnoxious. To be fair, I have to admit that I use a couple of Facebook apps that send out notifications. However, I try to do a couple of things to mitigate the ensuing the mess.

1) When I remember I turn off the notifications because not everyone needs to know or see that the state of Ohio has begged me to come for a visit.

2) I go through my profile and delete entries. A little cleanup of the clutter goes a long way.

3) I use lists. I have my Facebook friends divided into groups and have the privacy settings adjusted accordingly. Not everyone gets to see everything that is listed there.

Let me be clear, I don't post things that I want to be kept secret. I assume that anything that goes up can be seen by anyone. It doesn't mean that it will be, but it provides structure and that is useful.

Still, there is no reason to give everyone full access. There are people that I friend that do not need to know or see some things. If it happens that they stumble upon them that is one thing, but I don't have to make it easy for them.

Let's circle back to notifications as that is really the main point of this piece. You know who you are. You who update your account seventeen times an hour and take every quiz. You are cluttering up our feeds with nonsense and gibberish. We may love you dearly, but we don't always need to have the knowledge that if you were a tree you'd be a Buckeye or what your birthstone says about you.

Sometimes silence is golden.

Facebook Privacy Settings

A number of my friends and I have begun playing some of the games on Facebook. A few of these games are built in such a way that in order to succeed you need to build a team. The more players on your team, the more powerful and successful you can become.

So we went out and tried to recruit new players from among our friends. Invariably quite a few of them opt not to play, some of them because they have no interest and some because they're concerned about the time committment.

The reality is that it doesn't matter why they don't want to play. The end result is that you either accept that your success is limited by the size of those you can incorporate into your game or you have to go searching for like minded individuals on Facebook.

As it happens there are numerous groups of people who all want the same thing as you, success in the game. So you have the option of friending them and making them part of the team. The issue with this is that since you don't know them you may be concerned about giving them access to your information.

The answer to this is to adjust your privacy settings and to separate your friends into groups. What happens is that you establish custom privacy settings that limit access to your information.
By doing this you can limit the information that your fellow players can see while still providing access to your trusted friends.

The Joy of Facebook Photos.... Again

Upon occasion I may have mentioned that a few of the boys are in the process of getting divorced, or as one said disengaging from the "rat shit crazy woman I live with." I am still trying to figure out what that really means, or better yet understand how you come up with that term.

Even better was bearing witness to an argument about whether the term is supposed to be "bat shit" and not "rat shit." Either way those boys are full of crap.

The joy they tell me in losing a spouse is the fun of seeking a new partner to play with. That is a euphemism for "I really want female companionship" just not one that is legally attached to me.

Anyhoo...A few of them say that they have begun combing through Facebook for old girlfriends or girls that they wish had been more than just friends. In the process they have suddenly discovered a few things, primary among them is that none of us look like we are twenty any more.

In fact they tell me, some of these ladies look like they are middle aged. So while they cackle abou this I gleefully remind them that it goes both ways. "Listen you drunken fools, if we all graduated high school together it means that we are all the same age."

And they of course appreciate my profundity and share their admiration by bestowing various terms of endearment upon me. Needless to say they were colorful and would have been quite appropriate for use in a Mad Lib designed for adults.

So there we are pointing, clicking and squinting at various pictures. "Can that really be Anna Rachel. It looks like it, but the picture is so small I am not quite sure," he says. From across the room we hear "take a look at Cindy Bargedorf's account, it is open."

And there we see good old Cindy, she who had been exceptionally hot in that girl next door way. The years have been good to her, at least the child bearing years have because she must have 16 children and all that comes with it.

A load groan erupts and before it gets any worse I attempt to be the voice of reason again."Dude, you have lost half your hair and have grown a bit larger, it is called life."

Immediately afterwards I duck and those instincts prove to be correct as two or three objects go sailing by the space my head used to occupy.

A short time later the computers are all turned off and we are engaged in a riveting conversation that covers who was with who in high school, why LeBron will leave cleveland and we can't really be middle aged can we.

Again I insist on reminding the boys that my grandparents are 95, which means that I can't possibly be middle aged until I am at least half their age. That gives me 7.5 more years.

In the interim I think that I am going to replace all of my Facebook photos with shots of me holding Viagra, Grecian Formula 44 and a Ferrari. That sort of self deprecating humor should serve me well.

Now aren't you glad that you spent the last three minutes reading this post. ;)

How To Blog, Use Facebook & Twitter

During the past two weeks quite a number of the people following me on Twitter have turned out to be experts in Social Media or SEO. For a moment I was puzzled by this and then I realized that they have done so because I am the leading expert on all matters. Jack sees all and knows all, just ask DovBear.

Anyhoo, the beauty of these various tools is that there really isn't one proper way to use them. However, it should be noted that while there may not be one right way, there are also several wrong ways to use them.

The most obvious pitfall from using these tools is being careful about what sort of information you enter into them. If you consider the viral nature of the net it is easy to imagine that anything you post in cyberspace can be viewed by millions of people and for an unknown duration of time.

It is not far fetched to suggest that the YouTube video you made at 12 could still be around when you are 50, 76 or 176.

The point being is that you need anytime you put something out there you need to consider the present and future implications of that post. Not only that but you also need to remember that you don't have complete control of what is posted.

For example friends of yours could post pictures of you in compromising positions. But for the purpose of this post let's limit the discussion to what you post. You need to assume that anything you post can be seen by current and future employers, friends, colleagues and others.

So don't post anything that you aren't prepared to discuss and or if needed defend. More to come on this in a later post.

How to Block Facebook Photos of Yourself

This really is useful information.

Facebook can’t stop people from posting your picture. But there’s a Facebook setting that prevents other users from tagging photos with your name. Choose that setting, and other users won’t be able to tag you or search for photos of you. Plus you get plausible deniability: Nope, that’s not me doing a keg stand at the company picnic.

As with many Facebook features, the no-tag setting is easy to use, hard to find.
If one of your so-called friends on Facebook has already tagged you in a photo, look beneath it for the label “In this photo.” Your own name will have an extra link next to it, “remove tag.”

Click it. The tag with your name goes away. Even better, no one else will be able to tag you in that shot again.

How to disable everyone on Facebook from being able to tag you in the first place? I had to email Facebook to tell me where the button is. Here’s the step-by-step:

Read the whole thing, you'll thank me.

Facebook and Bad Photos

Facebook has created some unforeseen issues for me that I refer to as Facebook and Bad Photos. These photos fall into two categories.

The first are pictures of myself that I do not like because I think that I look bad in them. By that I mean that I don't like the way I look because I am making a face or they make me look like I need to lose 763 pounds.

The second category are those pictures in which I am doing something that I do not think ought to be broadcast to the world. Hypothetically speaking someone could post a picture of me from 1992 in which it is clear that I and my companions are inebriated.

Now I am not saying that such a photo exists and if it did I would point out that when I am tired my eyes are red and I walk around with a goofy grin on my face. But if it did, I'd probably ask that it not be included.

As for the first category, well that is a different issue altogether. I am relatively photogenic. Most of the time I am happy with my pictures but lately there have been a few posted in which I cringe.

Perhaps you can blame it upon illusions of grandeur, in my head I always envision myself in my early twenties and I no longer look like that. I don't think that I look terrible, but I admit to being less than pleased with the current state of affairs.

What do you think? Have friends/relatives/acquaintances posted pictures of you online that you are unhappy with? Fill us in, inquiring minds want to know.

Social Networks and Love

Here is an interesting article on CNN about social networks and relationships. It ties into how many people have used Facebook or similar media to connect with old friends and lost loves.

Not to mention how social media has also facilitated new relationships.

More than one-third (35 percent) of U.S. adult Internet users have a profile on a social networking site, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project's daily tracking survey of 2,251 adults.

As more people join social networks like MySpace and Facebook, getting back in touch with old friends and lovers is becoming increasingly easy.

A search on both networks turns up a handful of groups dedicated to lost loves and first loves. Although neither site formally tracks the number of groups dedicated to the topic, MySpace spokeswoman Jamie Schumacher says it's common for users to meet on the site and fall in love and end up together.

Facebook Owns Your Content Forever

I was none too pleased to see this story on The Consumerist:

Facebook's terms of service (TOS) used to say that when you closed an account on their network, any rights they claimed to the original content you uploaded would expire. Not anymore.

Now, anything you upload to Facebook can be used by Facebook in any way they deem fit, forever, no matter what you do later. Want to close your account? Good for
you, but Facebook still has the right to do whatever it wants with your old content. They can even sublicense it if they want.

25 Things I Didn't Want to Know About You

This article was mildly amusing. Two quick comments. this meme went through the blogosphere years ago and just keeps being regenerated. It is a bit like old luggage, you can't quite lose it.

Second, if this sort of stuff bothers/bores you why would you take the time to read it.

A girl I knew in high school has memorized all of Janet Jackson's dance routines. A college acquaintance is afraid of train whistles. Five separate people harbor lifelong desires to visit New Zealand. How do I know these things? Because they won't stop writing about them on Facebook!

Facebook's "25 Things About Me" meme seems harmless enough; people write 25 facts about themselves and post them on their Facebook pages, just as they do with videos, status updates and photos of last weekend's party. An estimated 5 million of these notes — that's 125 million facts — have appeared on the website within the past week. Assuming it takes someone 10 minutes to come up with their list, this recent bout of viral narcissism has sent roughly 800,000 hours of worktime productivity down the drain.

Facebook Turns Five

Happy Birthday Facebook. Everyone needs another time suck.

Yet questions still remain about the finances behind Facebook's remarkable expansion. The company has attracted more than $200 million in investment from venture capitalists while in 2006 it rejected a reputed $1 billion bid from Yahoo!

In 2007 Microsoft paid $250 million for a 1.6 percent share, a figure that gave Facebook a total projected value of some $15 billion.

I don't know, I probably would have sold it. But maybe that's why I am not the guy sitting in the penthouse. ;)

Worlds Colliding- It would Have Been Incredible

During my college years I used to say that "fatigue is the best drug." It was a tongue-in-cheek remark that reflected upon my constant lack of sleep and the experimenting that I saw go on around me. But there was a lot of truth to it because I found that some of my best ideas and best days were those that came on less than three hours of sleep.

At least I thought that was the case. In the years that have passed I have sometimes wondered what I was thinking. Or maybe it is more a case of wishing that I could still have the benefits of my 19 year-old body and metabolism. Eat anything, stay up all night, run all day and have plenty left in the tank. None of this, "my back is sore in the morning" or better not eat that chili-cheeseburger at 3 am for fear of repurcussions crap.

Last night I found myself completely out of sorts and unable to sleep. So I headed over to check out Facebook and see if any of my friends had anything witty or interesting to say. As I perused the different profiles I was dumbfounded to see how many people from my past had suddenly shown up there.

There were connections between people that made me wonder what the crossover was. As far as I knew they hadn't grown up together, went to different schools and wouldn't have ever met through me. So I scratched my head and sort of shrugged it off.

And let's not ignore that in some cases they are connected to old girlfriends. I am not still carrying a torch for any of these women. I don't spend any time wondering what could have been. Those days are done, but I think that I sort of preferred having those days relegated to memory.

As nostalgic as I may sometimes be I don't want spend chunks of time looking back. No doubt that those were some of the best and worst times of my life. Experiences that helped shape and turn me into the slightly deranged fellow I am today.

Side note. While I stared at tiny profile pictures trying to see what they looked like today I had this momentary urge to send off a few messages to them, truly ridiculous messages like:

"Dear Kathy,

It is Jack. Not sure if you remember me, but we had that thing second semester of our sophomore year. You broke up with me because you said that you just didn't see a future for us. Well I stumbled onto your Facebook profile and thought that I'd tell you what has happened since that time.

I became an entrepreneur and inventor. Not sure if you are familiar with any of my inventions, but just to give you a sense of what I have done since then I am the person who invented a pill that has improved life for millions of people.

When I sold the rights I had to agree to not use my name in conjunction with the drug. Since I always honor my agreements let's just say that it rhymes with Niagra. I took the money I made from that agreement and spent some time traveling the world.

Since then I have been a part of a number of different ventures. These include being a silent partner on various movies, like "Titanic, Forest Gump, Return of The King and The Departed."

I also helped fund The Make a Wish Foundation. That has been one of my favorites. I always get such a warm feeling helping those kids.

Anyway, you were right to tell me that there was more to school than wild parties. I have to go know. I am meeting with Barack Obama to discuss my role as special adviser in his administration.

Write me sometime and tell me how life is.

-Jack

I know. It is totally ridiculous. But that is the thing about fatigue, it makes the ridiculous sound almost believable. Anyway, I didn't send any letters. Didn't try to friend any of the "ex" crowd because sometimes the past is best left behind. You can't go back, so might as well focus upon now and the future.

Still, it would have been kind of fun to send off that note.

Facebook and Photos

It is another late night and I am not even close to being tired. It could be blamed upon the pounding I took today from multiple quarters. It could be said that I feel like someone tried to give me a colonoscopy with an object that was never designed to go where few dare to tread. I could easily go off on a rant about such things, but what fun would that be.

So instead I am going to blame my late hours on sorting through old photos, a few of which even made it onto Facebook. Until recently I had little to do with Facebook. I have plenty of activities which serve the purpose as general timesuck and had been cautious not to get caught up in more. But the damn bug caught up with me.

Actually what happened is that a group of friends of mine all simultaneously realized that it is a really freaking easy way to stay in touch. So we have been making like Ma Bell and doing the reach out and touch someone routine.

In addition one of my 1,287 siblings and I have both been uploading some family photos to look at. Since we live far apart it is an easy way to try and get a look at the rugrats and see if they really are growing as fast as it seems.

But as much as I enjoy doing the trip down memory lane I do hesitate to put too many pictures on line. I figure that whatever goes up is a lifetime gift to cyberspace. Since I am not independently wealthy and haven't ruled out running for office I am careful about what goes up. Not to mention that I am especially careful when it comes to the children. Sometimes I get a bit antsy about putting their mugs up.

Mostly this was a good excuse to try and sift through some old photos and figure out which ones needed to be scanned in so that they could be shared online.

Anyhoo, that is about all I have to say about that.

Two Facebook Accounts

File this under activities that are nothing more than a timesuck. For a long time I fought getting involved with Facebook. I didn't see it as offering any particular advantages and figured that I had enough ways to waste time without engaging in a new activity.

And then one day I woke up and discovered that I had not one, but two Facebook accounts. It wasn't quite as shocking as Gregor Samsa had in Metamorphosis, which is good because who wants to discover that they are a giant cockroach anyway.

On a sidenote I remember this teacher from high school who used to pronounce it as cock-A-roach. I can still hear that guy spitting it out with the emphasis on the middle. I think that he thought that it was a safe way to try and belittle students. Believe you me, if he called you a cock-A-roach he was none too happy with you. One of these days I have to share the story of the time we filled his classroom with his favorite curse word, but I digress.

I created a Facebook account as a sort of test. I had decided that I wanted to check it out, but I didn't want to put a lot of effort into it. So I created one using a fake name and took the thing out for a spin.

For a short while it was mildly interesting. I was poked and poked back, threw sheep at people and tried to remember to duck when they threw them at me. And then one day I decided that I just didn't need it, so I nuked it. Goodbye Facebook.

I didn't think twice about it until I heard from a few real world friends. They told me about how they had used it to network and to reconnect with some mutual old friends and encouraged me to open up a new Facebook account. That got me thinking about it, but it wasn't until my sister asked me to that I gave in to the madness again.

So once again I opened up an account only this time I used my real name and was surprised at how many people found me. In a short time I had a ridiculous number of friends. Some of them were people that I really consider friends and some were acquaintances. I kind of wondered if some of them were more interested in collecting vast numbers of friends than if they really wanted to reconnect with me.

But in truth I didn't care all that much as it didn't take any more time so what did it matter. And in reality I did find that it was an easy way to get back in touch with some old friends. We are scattered all over the country and the world so it is easier to drop a quick note on their wall or send a message than to call.

You'd think that I would have left well enough alone, but I didn't. After a few months of messing around with Facebook and some correspondence with some other bloggers (Thanks Daled Amos) I set up a second account so that I could start a Haveil Havalim Facebook group.

If you are a member of the Jblogopshere and you have a Facebook account I encourage you to join. It is an easy way to be a part of the community and to share your thoughts about the things that are important to you.

Anyway, that is enough for now. Time for shuteye for this old man. Night from L.A.

Crossposted here.

Fiddling With Facebook

I have intentionally been reluctant to get real involved with Facebook. I have such limited time that I have been hesitant to give away chunks large or small to things that don't seem to have a solid payoff for my involvement.

Still, I am always interested in learning more about social networking tools that can be used for networking and reconnecting with friends and family. So with that in mind a short while back I found myself setting up shop there.

The process of adding friends reminds me of the concentric circles that form on the water after skipping rocks. When I first signed up the people I sought out were those who are closest to me. In my mind there was no reason to haphazardly add names to the list. I wasn't interested in having more friends listed there than anyone else.

In fact, I am still not, but over time I have found that it was impractical and unrealistic to try and limit it so dramatically. Gradually I reached out to people who weren't part of that inner circle and was in turn contacted with friendship requests by many others.

One of the interesting things I noticed from all this occurred because of one of my sisters. She has her own Facebook so periodically I have gone over there and looked at her list of friends. I am always surprised by how many names are unfamiliar to me.

She left home quite some time ago and has made a life for herself in a new city so it makes perfect sense that I wouldn't know everyone on her list. Still, it seems a bit strange not to know them. I am the big brother. I have spent all of her life watching out for her and here I am wondering who Bob Delaney, Kim Connors and Jonathan Weissman are.

Anyway, I understand from her that one of my nephews and a niece have asked if they could do something like Facebook. I don't know if they really understand what it is all about, they are still relatively young. But what I do know is that this is another sign that their childhood and that of my children is going to be dramatically different from my own.

I'll save the value judgment for a different time. Just suffice it to say that it is a reminder to me that I need to stay on top of technology. They're growing up with it, absorbing it the way I used to absorb baseball statistics. I don't want to be the old man who hasn't a clue what is going on. I am not trying to be the cool dad either, just don't want to look around and feel like a dinosaur living in times that are not his own.