Will you be my Friend?

Peeking over her shoulder, I watched my 22 year old niece, Felicity, update her Facebook profile and check in on a few of her hundreds of friends. It is my first peek into this universe, save for when I photograph in a college lecture hall and see that a fourth of the laptops have Facebook, and not the lecture notes, on the screens.

I've ben thinking I ought to have a profile up there, just so I can be a tiny bit more of a cultural insider to my primary photographic subject matter, college students. Felicity was delighted to tutor me in the mores of this society and helped me set up my profile. She became my first Friend, which is very touching. The most fun piece was working on my "Where I've Been" map, and realizing that I have indeed been in all 50 states, and have lived in 12 of them, plus a Canadian province.

I need some models for how to compose this identity, and for that I need more Friends. The only profiles I can look at are those who have so beFriended me. So, if you're on Facebook, would you be my Friend?

Or maybe you're more in line with this Candorville strip.

Comments

[Jeff Henderson]

Just read your blog post so I though I'd take you up on your friend request. I just started playing with Facebook also. Not quiet sure why, but everyone else seems to be using it so I thought I'd check it out. I'm still not sure I get what it is all about, or why everyone is raving about it, but then I'm 20 years beyond college age... I've been using LinkedIn for my professional contacts for several of years and it seems to do exactly what I need, which is to keep track of past work acquaintances without all of the games and gimmicks Facebook appears to have. I'd love to hear more about what you think about Facebook after you have used it for a while.

[Doug Plummer]

You're not the only one. I think I've just made a major contribution to the over-40 set on Facebook with all the newbies from this blog entry. I'm waiting to see what it means too, as it's not immediately evident for someone my age who doesn't interact this way already. But there is that appealing "So-and-so wants to be your friend!" thing that is sorta addictive in a mildly creepy way.

[Colin Jago]

What a huge, confusing, addictive, and social, yet unsocial, place Facebook turns out to be.

Thanks, er, friend, for the nudge which made me go exploring.

[Doug Plummer]

Colin,

I'm so glad to have improved your quality of life in this fashion. I will watch out for when you return the favour, and duck.
D