Resistance is Futile

[xela]

As of today, I have a Facebook account. (I decided I couldn't avoid it any longer when I replied this morning to a LinkedIn ping from a recruiter there.)

I'm not at all sure what I'll be doing with it. The one thing I've decided is that, unlike here and LinkedIn, where I have generally only connected with people both in-person and fairly well, on Facebook I'm going to go with what has become the more usual Internet-Friends definition. (To the extend I can figure it out, anyway.) Which almost certainly means that if you're reading this, I'll accept a friend-ping from you on Facebook. I gather the way to find me on Facebook is to use my email address. Which, in the unlikely event anyone reading this doesn't know it, is xela (at) mit.edu

Comments

[gigglefest.livejournal.com]

I was on FB for a few months (it was briefly useful for software bootcamp) and then realized it wasn't adding much to my life. Now I'm back to delighting in my FB-less online existence.

[jered]

I was just about to write to see if that account was real! :-)

FB is useful for contacting people who you are connected with but don't have current contact information for. It's also become de-facto for many sorts of event invitations. Beyond that there are many things you can do with it, which may or may not be useful.

[yakshaver.livejournal.com]

I have to admit I'm liking it so far. The advertising tends to creep me out sometimes, but that's true pretty much everywhere anymore, except LJ. (I have a permanent LJ account, which means no ads.)

[jered]

This will make your life better: http://socialfixer.com/

[nuclearpolymer.livejournal.com]

Definitely different uses for different folks.
I am not embarrassed to say that I really like it as a way to keep track of cousins, stay in nearly daily contact with a circle of high school friends, and keep up with the Harry Potter friends I've met at conventions. During my 10th high school reunion, folks were happy to get together and catch up a bit with people they hadn't talked to for years. But by the 20th, we were mostly on FB, and were already more in touch, so it was like getting together with a bunch of current friends instead of just acquaintances. For my old high school crowd, it's definitely the easiest way to have fairly frequent but low effort contact with a circle of people who are scattered geographically, and it has made us much more likely to make the effort to get together in person when the opportunity arises. I might be unusual in nerd circles in actually liking a bunch of people I knew from middle school, though.

[hlinspjalda.livejournal.com]

Mr. Fixer and I don't do FB. He barely does any social media whatsoever, and I'm historically mistrustful of FB. But you know other ways of finding us, so it's all good.

[yakshaver.livejournal.com]

True --- although, I was wondering the other day: Is the Vassar email still the best way to reach you? (Perhaps best if you answer that by sending email to xela (AT) mit.edu.)