Late Adapter

Capital City Desk post #1 had to do with peer pressure, so perhaps this one -- post #1000 -- ought to as well. For a year or so, I've had a mild internal struggle about picking up a MySpace or a Facebook page. Even though the library system for which I work continues to filter social networking sites for teens, it seemed important, as a teen librarian, to understand the experience first hand.

Then again, it was one more thing for which I'd need to create a login and password.

The first time I'd read about MySpace and Facebook was in the New Yorker: such a middle adapter way to learn about trends! (Though it's good to remember that Gladwell's piece on cool hunting -- a chapter of The Tipping Point -- first ran in the New Yorker in 1997.) And I kinda wanted to sign up for Facebook right then, because it still had (or perhaps had just lost?) the snob appeal of being open only to students and alumni of certain schools, and mine seemed to be one.

But it meant more filling-in of online forms and making up a password -- plus, I didn't get how it was better than my blog.

Meanwhile, I set a work goal of doing some of the things on the 23 Things training program, and soon I was setting up names and passwords left and right. I tried Bebo as a different social networking site and have already forgotten the password I used there. I have kept up with Flickr, LibraryThing, and Bloglines for a while now, so why on earth would I create one more space for myself that seems to duplicate what all these sites (products/services) do?

Well, because everyone else is doing it, of course. Reunion must have been the (yes) tipping point for me.

So I filled in the form and created a password and now I have a Facebook page. And I joined something called Linked In, which is meant to be professional networking, I gather. We'll see how long I can remember the password for that one. . . .

What I like about Facebook is that I got to have a tiny, unplanned conversation with Sheree the other day. What I don't like is the feeling that I have to start so many things all over again. I could share books on it -- only I am pretty dedicated to LibraryThing, now. I can share pictures -- by taking them from my Snapfish and Flickr online albums. I'm competitive, so I can see challenging people to all these games (yeah, like I need another distraction). I can't see all the virtual presents and whatnot . . . but then the "flair" did give me pause because I've always sort of missed my denim jacket with its little 80s buttons.

To rephrase myself (see post #1): I'll be interested to see what I do with Facebook and if I have the tenacity to keep it and CCD going, too.

Just Read: Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. (I enjoyed it thoroughly. Allow me to disagree, however, with the NY Times blurb on the back cover: "'A direct descendant of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.'" Clearly, Good Omens descends from the Dirk Gently books.)

Capital City weather: hot, humid, clear