Ups and downs of Facebook.....

  Now.... I'm not new to "Facebook" - I got myself onto it when it started, or almost, but I didn't really know what I would use it for!
I had a sort of "vague" feeling that it must be good for something, but I didn't know for what!
Probably a little bit of me rebelled from the boring "MSN Messenger" and not liking "MSN" things anyway, it seemed to make sense to have at least one "Social" thing to waste time on...!For quite some time, I didn't use it, and then somebody sent me something which meant I had to go to Facebook to see and read all about it.
So....whilst I was there, having spent days trying to remember my ID and my password, I thought that the fairest thing to do was at least to look at the thing and see what I could use it for.
Now - I already have "GTalk" - probably the best thing since sliced bread (you can contact me on there under the alias "Ian Watson Mitchell") so I didn't really need the Facebook "chat" section, I've got photos all over the WWW, so I didn't really need the photo album pages, but since my Doctor had decided that I was suffering from "isolation" ( I didn't, but if the Doctor's being paid anyway, you might as well listen to him) I considered trying to "select" a few "Facebook Friends".....

...and that's where it started...!

I decided to be uncharacteristically cautious....this was sort of "new", and one heard some horrendous stories.....

People who had so many "friends" that they didn't know who the hell was who...  "Scandals" were rife, at least that's what the good folk with the good book said...the ones who insisted that since Facebook was amusing and entertaining people, it could only be the "work of the Devil" or "the root of all evil" and

so on...!  It was claimed that....  DIDN'T EXIST...!
Well, I chose with care, and in very limited number, and I can now honestly say that I've only got around 54 "friends" and a couple of them I never see or hear from. With all the others, I'm over served and over happy, in particular with a few "special" ones...!
......In the time I've been on the thing, "Facebook" has brought me into contact with all sorts.
The lady, from the other side of the world, almost, who is going to share my future - a generous number of her family and friends, some logically "doubters" others frankly - "believers"..and I'm happy to accept both!
I even "sort of" celebrated "Thanksgiving" - although I had no idea what was going on, and - frankly, some those vegetable "jello's" and stuff looked remarkedly like the remnants of a Saturday evening, on a Sunday morning...- but, I was allowed to share the emotions and fun of many people, for which I was thankful.
Then, at a different moment, this "work of the Devil" rewarded me with requests for friendships from two people I didn't even know existed....two "cousines" living on the other side of the Planet, and who, through lack of parental information, had stayed non-existant all of my life!
People who hadn't been born when their Mums emigrated, and - of course, the World hasn't always been an oyster...!    
Well - the latest count, one lady for life, and two "cousines" for life as well with all their friends, family and who knows what else to come...
Yes - it must not be hidden, there are also negative sides to Facebook - as in live - in all aspects.
There are frauds, thieves, imposter's, sexual deviates, paedophiles, you name it - it's there....just as in the real world.
Should maybe be renamed "Lifebook...."!
You take care in the "real" world, you get caught up in things you shouldn't, you get cheated, you get swindled........but you stay in it....Why not do the same things on Facebook?
People have to meet somewhere, Churches, Associations, Dating bars, other bars, sports clubs, discos .....add infinitum....so - why not on Facebook?
I'm sorry, if all this is "the work of the devil" and so on, then I would like more....and - I just think you're NUTS....!

************
iwmpop (mr le marquis)       -        Vauvert, France        -      Novembre 2010