My Neglected Blog

It's been a while since I've done a posting. Not that I haven't wanted to express myself online. Used to be that this blog is where I did it.

Ah, times have changed. Blogging is being replaced ... by Facebook!

Yes, I will admit. I am going to be in need of a 12-step program if this continues. I first heard about Facebook down at CFMU, where program director (and who was a volunteer when I was station manager 10-15 years ago) told me that the "kids" got him to sign up. Sign of the times ... both James the PD and I are now old enough to refer to the 20-somethings as "kids". When I was at CFMU I was only in my mid-30s so the age difference didn't seem so great. Now there's no denying it ... we are becoming elders in the world of community radio.

That was a month ago. I didn't even look at Facebook then .. figured it was a fad. And then I got an invitation from my niece Crystal in Kelowna who is 25. Crystal isn't at all what I would call a tech-head. Yet she uses technology in ways that I don't ... and a quick visit with her, her sister and brother shows me new ways of communicating that I hadn't thought of.

So okay, I'm the cool aunt. Better sign up.

And every day I look at my list of friends to make sure it's growing. For a while I was stalled at 38. And I started to get a bit obsessed about it. Come on, I've got more friends than that. And then I would think about my status line Victoria is ... Victoria is ... what? There are people who update their status line by the hour. do they live on line or something? And then there is the optional information ... what do I put under Status ... do I say I'm single? Maybe that sends out the wrong ... or right? .. signal. Or do I ignore the question? Quotes ... what are my favourite quotes .. should it be profound or fun? And then there's the picture .. a lot of people are going to be seeing this (although probably not as many as most Facebookers think. What one shows my best side?

Too many decisions and I haven't even finished my coffee yet. It's getting cold because I am too busy typing. Oh yeah, I gotta get some work done this morning.

What is truly fascinating is to see who signs up and who doesn't. There are some surprises. I look at my friends list just to see who's showing up. What? Him? I thought he was scared of the computer. And some of the ones who seem like they'd be naturals are nowhere to be found.

A couple of observations -- there is an age thing happening. For sure. The friends collections of my younger Facebook friends are a lot bigger than those my own age. Makes me wonder how much of this is a popularity contest. Of course it is. And the updates seem to come minute by minute. My friends who are roughly the same age as me don't change their entries as frequently.

The friends who aren't there tell me a) it's just another gadget they don't have time for and b) they want to protect their privacy. Fair enough. Being a media person who really likes politics, my own perspective is that not being seen is not a good thing. So I realize I'm a much more in-your-face-in-your-ear kind of person than the average person my age.

Inevitably, because I like to ask a lot of questions (and can't help it), I do wonder what this shows about the communications methods and attitudes of people who are younger than me. We do know they don't read in the same way as we did ... small bites rather than novels. And mainstream radio and TV are bemoaning the possibility (probability) they're not going to have any listeners at all once those who are now over 40 die off. They're right ... which is a whole other story.

What this makes me ask, as a communicator, is how to stay relevant as all these changes occur. As I age, am I going to keep communicating the way I always have, using the same old media?

I don't want that. Because it means that I'll only be communicating with people my own age. That for me is the value of learning new technologies like Facebook. And why I'm spending so much time with this thing. Or so I tell myself.

Not just because it's a whole bunch of fun.

Whoops. Gotta go. Haven't checked my Facebook in 15 minutes!

(update: I just checked it out. I am stalled at 53 friends. And that's really only 52 because Simon signed up twice. Come on! I've got more friends than that. And what's with all those question marks where the pictures should be??!!)