BLOGSTUFF + THE FACEBOOK PHENOMENON
"We are all made of Blogstuff!" - Karl Saygan
I will still be doing the weblog thing about once a week, for my own enjoyment and hopefully for yours as well. My blog didn't die a few months back, and it won't die now. It was kind of like it had a serious illness, then was reborn into something else as it recuperated. I would prefer it remains a random collection of snapshots and glimpses into my life, rather than the fun but negatively-focused thing it used to be.
I still have plenty of opinions, mostly leftist and agnostic, but I feel no need to try and convince others (particularly those who will never agree with me anyway or who consider me stupid for what I believe) that my way is the only way. An argument is not a real argument when someone's purpose is simply to show off or lecture, versus actually listening to and learning from the other person. And most of the arguing I have seen on internet blogs is not arguing, but rather a contest where the animals see who can do the best job of marking territory.
So while my blog is reduced to where it will be about me and my little world, I have discovered Facebook in recent months... and Facebook seems to (at least potentially) be about a lot of people and a lot of things.
I have been spending most of my online recreational time with Facebook lately. I find Facebook to be a great social networking tool. I am finding all kinds of people I had lost track of for the last 30-40 years, discovering people I went to high school with and about whom I now ask myself "Why didn't I know this person back then, or pay more attention to him or her back then?" There are so many REALLY GREAT people I'm finding, as I make new friends from among those with whom I have been merely acquainted until now. It is an expanding kind of experience, and it is helping me learn more about other people, that my life is not the end-all and be-all in the world.
From talking with other "Facebook friends", I find that "Facebook friends" are often kind of in several groups. These are mine:
1. Family
2. Friends I have known for years
3. People I know from work
4. Local people I have seen frequently at our band's shows, and who have made positive comments about our band
5. The aforementioned people I should have known years ago and are just now discovering... my "lost friends", if you will.
Sometimes these groups bleed into one another, and my hope is that some of my friends from one area can find friends from one of my others... that my FB page can serve as a tool for some of friends who don't know each other getting to know each other!
I haven't gotten into the Facebook games and apps, and don't really plan to. I spend enough time on Facebook as it is, just keeping up with everyone on my "friends" list.
If you aren't already, I would like you to be my Facebook friend!
My Facebook page is much like my blog nowadays in that I avoid the heavy stuff and mostly just want to have fun there. If I want "heavy", I can go look at the TV news or at online news sites.
Search for me under "John Evans", and since there are thousands of those (!), refine your search for "Tri-Cities, WA". (I live about 120 miles from the Tri-Cities, or the Dry-Shitties as they are sometimes known, but I guess with Facebook it uses regions rather than specific towns for refining searches.)
And in case you use a name other than your own when you post on blogs, please send a message along with your friend request to let me know who you are.
And for those of you whose names I already know... I might find some of you first! 8-)>
Cheers!
I will still be doing the weblog thing about once a week, for my own enjoyment and hopefully for yours as well. My blog didn't die a few months back, and it won't die now. It was kind of like it had a serious illness, then was reborn into something else as it recuperated. I would prefer it remains a random collection of snapshots and glimpses into my life, rather than the fun but negatively-focused thing it used to be.
I still have plenty of opinions, mostly leftist and agnostic, but I feel no need to try and convince others (particularly those who will never agree with me anyway or who consider me stupid for what I believe) that my way is the only way. An argument is not a real argument when someone's purpose is simply to show off or lecture, versus actually listening to and learning from the other person. And most of the arguing I have seen on internet blogs is not arguing, but rather a contest where the animals see who can do the best job of marking territory.
So while my blog is reduced to where it will be about me and my little world, I have discovered Facebook in recent months... and Facebook seems to (at least potentially) be about a lot of people and a lot of things.
I have been spending most of my online recreational time with Facebook lately. I find Facebook to be a great social networking tool. I am finding all kinds of people I had lost track of for the last 30-40 years, discovering people I went to high school with and about whom I now ask myself "Why didn't I know this person back then, or pay more attention to him or her back then?" There are so many REALLY GREAT people I'm finding, as I make new friends from among those with whom I have been merely acquainted until now. It is an expanding kind of experience, and it is helping me learn more about other people, that my life is not the end-all and be-all in the world.
From talking with other "Facebook friends", I find that "Facebook friends" are often kind of in several groups. These are mine:
1. Family
2. Friends I have known for years
3. People I know from work
4. Local people I have seen frequently at our band's shows, and who have made positive comments about our band
5. The aforementioned people I should have known years ago and are just now discovering... my "lost friends", if you will.
Sometimes these groups bleed into one another, and my hope is that some of my friends from one area can find friends from one of my others... that my FB page can serve as a tool for some of friends who don't know each other getting to know each other!
I haven't gotten into the Facebook games and apps, and don't really plan to. I spend enough time on Facebook as it is, just keeping up with everyone on my "friends" list.
If you aren't already, I would like you to be my Facebook friend!
My Facebook page is much like my blog nowadays in that I avoid the heavy stuff and mostly just want to have fun there. If I want "heavy", I can go look at the TV news or at online news sites.
Search for me under "John Evans", and since there are thousands of those (!), refine your search for "Tri-Cities, WA". (I live about 120 miles from the Tri-Cities, or the Dry-Shitties as they are sometimes known, but I guess with Facebook it uses regions rather than specific towns for refining searches.)
And in case you use a name other than your own when you post on blogs, please send a message along with your friend request to let me know who you are.
And for those of you whose names I already know... I might find some of you first! 8-)>
Cheers!
8 Comments:
Snave, I'm in the same place you are blogwise and Facebookwise! I've been spending a lot of time over there too. I'll look for you and friend you there. Look for a friend request from Mimi Peizer Michalski - that's me!
This comment has been removed by the author.
Not unless I find you first! 8-)> Thanks much!
What a nutty coincidence. I've been way engrossed in FB also. I'm helping to plan my 30 year HS reunion, and have been bumping into friends I'd lost touch with years ago.
My sentiments on FB are nearly the same as yours. I don't do the apps much either, but do chat and play a dice game called Farkle, which I love anyway.
I haven't been expending much time on my blogs either. I was actually thinking of finding a way to archive them and take them down completely to start anew. But, being the supreme procrastinator that I am - who knows when I'll do that ;-)
Facebook just doesn't do anything for me. But I'm sure there's a reason that billions of people are using it (and MySpace, etc.) and blogging seems to be at an alltime low ebb (judging by people's posting frequency, number of comments and visits, etc.).
I'm a member (I guess), just from accepting people's invitations to join. But so far I haven't poked anybody or written on anybody's wall or traded one farm animal for three apple trees or whatever.
At some point I'll probably have to change with the times, just so I don't end up sitting out there in cyberspace talking to myself. In the meantime:
Blog on :)
Very nice blog you have here. I like reading political blogs for some reason. Anyway, I have a site myself where people from around the world come and debate on popular issues. I feel as if this will give citizens some form of power, letting their voices be heard.
I'd like to exchange links with you to help spread some traffic around between each other. If you'd like to, please leave a comment under our "Compadres" page when you've added our link and we'll return the favor.
Until then, keep up the good work.
Jason
DEBATEitOUT.com
Snave, look me up on FAcebook, I couldn't find you...
I'm Beekeepers Apprentice
(what else??)
Tom: I've seen an increase in my readership and comments lately...which really thrills me! :)
I've been on Facebook for two years now. It seems my Facebook friends fall into these categories: 1. Kinfolk; 2. Friends; 3. People I Know From Work; 4. People I Know From Around the County; 5. Fellow Comic Book, Sci-Fi, Horror, Fantasy, Pulp Magazine, or Classic Movie Fans. OF course, some of those categories do overlap! Anyway, it's pretty wonderful for keeping in touch with people.
I do hope you keep the blog up. I have to admit that I have been remiss of late in visiting various blogs, but it seems right now it is all I can do to keep mine going!
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