facebook

November 4, 2008 9:37 AM

The Face of Facebook.

An excerpt.

I work alone with a Mac and a broadband connection from my apartment, away from the bustle of a newsroom and untouched by office intrigues, with only the occasional company of a housekeeper.

But I rarely feel alone.

In fact, sometimes it feels as if a lot of my time is being spent in something resembling a campus student center, where people kill time between classes, trading banter and gossip or just making passing remarks about what someone’s wearing.

Except these are no students and the center exists only in the virtual realm of the Internet. I am talking about Facebook, the social networking site du jour.

What's strange to me about this article is that it was written by someone I used to do just that with
hang around in the student center between classes. And I've been thinking the same thing.
At some point facebook went from being just another social networking site to ...something else.

It's made a leap to something other than social networking. It's started to feel like the
student center, or the coffeeshop.


Now she's in Jakarta and I'm in Alabama, but I talk to her all the time. I sprained my ankle and posted it to my status on facebook and she's one of the people telling me to go to the doctor. And I haven't actually seen her, face to face, since 95.

I don't want to sound all "rah rah facebook" but something is going on there that isn't at myspace.

posted by nyxxxx (20 comments total)

It's cyberspace, maaaaan!
posted by autodidact at 9:44 AM on November 4, 2008 [1 favorite]

The moment when people forgot about going outdoors.
posted by Eekacat at 9:46 AM on November 4, 2008

It's started to feel like the student center, or the coffeeshop.

only it's pants optional.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 9:48 AM on November 4, 2008

Which stylebook has the rule about breaking a paragraph after each sentence? Because I want to tear it up into little tiny pieces and jump on them.
posted by seanmpuckett at 9:48 AM on November 4, 2008 [1 favorite]

It's nothing but a 21st century telephone. Really- what's the difference. In the old days you had teenagers gabbing all day about nonsense on the phone to all of their friends. This is just another way to do all that nonsense. Twitter is even more inane.
posted by Zambrano at 9:50 AM on November 4, 2008

With all due respect, huh? A single link to an editorial about facebook?
posted by dontoine at 9:50 AM on November 4, 2008

It's started to feel like the student center, or the coffeeshop.

only it's pants optional.

You went to a real bummer of a college, didn't you.
posted by shakespeherian at 9:50 AM on November 4, 2008

What's strange to me about this article is that it was written by someone I used to do just that with-
hang around in the student center between classes.

So basically you linked to an editorial by a friend of yours?
posted by dunkadunc at 9:53 AM on November 4, 2008

shakepeherian beat me to it. Come ... join us ... let it all hang out.
posted by spaceman_spiff at 9:56 AM on November 4, 2008

It really annoys me when people make status updates only about headaches, mosquito bites, or other ailments. And it's nice to see a link to The Jakarta Post. I'll be in Jakarta in less than a week now. Going to be my daily read for a while!
posted by ChickenringNYC at 9:59 AM on November 4, 2008

I find the statement "I like to keep my network small and intimate" to be at odds with the earlier line about "...the 250-something people in my Facebook network".

250 isn't small and intimate. 25, maybe. But 250?

Sites like Facebook make people think that one can actually have hundreds of close friends. You can have hundreds of acquaintances, but no person actually has the time to develop hundreds of close, meaningful, personal relationships with others. We're embracing superficiality at an increasingly rapid rate, and I for one think it sucks.
posted by caution live frogs at 9:59 AM on November 4, 2008

This post is weak.

I think that's really the most constructive thing I can say and my inhibition circuit isn't working right now so I've got to write something.
posted by no1hatchling at 10:03 AM on November 4, 2008

Man, I actually agree with Zambrano.
posted by Burhanistan at 10:09 AM on November 4, 2008

I don't want to sound all "rah rah facebook" but something is going on there that isn't at myspace.

Something is going on at Facebook that has been going on since the halcyon days of USENET and FidoNet.

This is probably my #1 peeve with "Web 2.0" - claiming they've discovered new country when in fact the area's been mapped thoroughly by thousands before.
posted by illiad at 10:09 AM on November 4, 2008

I shall sign up for this Facebook contraption on the double!
posted by ALongDecember at 10:10 AM on November 4, 2008

dunkadunc, that's basically what he did, where basically = exactly.

Hey dummies my friends, you can follow my comings and goings (mostly comings, know what I mean? [wink wink]) here.
posted by Mister_A at 10:10 AM on November 4, 2008

Also:

CONSPIRACY!
posted by Burhanistan at 10:12 AM on November 4, 2008

Well, I have to say that I actually do like Facebook. I've reconnected with people I hadn't seen in years, that I had no way of tracking down. It's fun.

I still go outside though.
posted by OolooKitty at 10:16 AM on November 4, 2008 [1 favorite]

Wow, can she identify a portobello mushroom?
posted by chillmost at 10:17 AM on November 4, 2008

Now I really hate Facebook, but I think I hate that dumb bitch from Burhanistan's video even more. Why won't you stop saying THE Facebook?
posted by Mister_A at 10:17 AM on November 4, 2008