I decided to remove the invitation on my blog to join me on FaceBook…. There is something very unsettling about this alternative community. It’s a bit like the pod people in “Invasion of the of Body Snatchers” – a whole bunch of people that you interacted over the course of your life that you discover all know each other and have been talking about you and you never knew. Well that’s how it first feels.
I joined FaceBook last week and was horrified to discover pictures and comments about me that I never knew existed. I found myself drawn to ‘bookies’ photo albums and peeking at who they knew. You know that feeling at parties where you make an effort to introduce people and they turn round and tell you that they already know each other? ‘Great’ you say, and then you instantly wonder why they never mentioned it before. FaceBook is hell for paranoids.
Luckily, everything, so far were posts from real friends. But then I realized that letting anyone join you on FaceBook was a commitment. Sometimes you don’t want the world to see pictures of you drunk in a bar in Tokyo singing karaoke, or dressed up as member of KISS, or worse! And what about rejecting, removing or DEFACING people from your FaceBook. You might as well tell them that they are losers. We can’t be friends with everyone we know and we certainly can’t be friends with people we don’t know. “A stranger is just a friend you haven’t met yet?” Sorry Mister Rogers but that is just not normal.
So Facebook is for me and friends only.. people that I have really met.
AlphaInventions.com, on the other hand, allows me to exorcise my voyeuristic urge – it’s an automatic dim sum from the blogosphere that randomly exposes those who wish to be visited. Somehow, that does not feel pervy or intrusive. And bloggers, as we all know, we want people to come and see our worlds.
So what do you feel about FaceBook?
UPDATE: and if YOU think I am being paranoid then check this out
brucemhood.wordpress.com 