OK, so at long last I’m going to go ahead and open up my Facebook account to…(drumroll please)…you!
I’ve held off doing this for a long time. When I first joined Facebook a little over a year ago (yes, I know, I was a late adopter…), I wasn’t quite sure how it would fit into my life and wanted to keep it just for close “real life” friends and family.
Well, as any of you fellow Facebook-o-philes realize, that model quickly went right out the window. Although I wouldn’t “accept” anyone as a friend that I’d never met personally, the range of people who made it under the radar because we’d once met was still quite high. One year later and with 325 friends (and growing), it now seems silly to call all of those people close friends.
In addition, I blog regularly at places like Politics Daily and The Huffington Post and Yahoo! Shine where it’s pretty much du rigueur to invite readers to not only follow you on twitter (which I’ve always done), but to friend you on Facebook. It’s all part of the new journalism, dontcha know, and I need to get with that program.
Until recently, another barrier to going global with my Facebook account was that I decided – erroneously, I now believe – to use my given name, Delia Boylan, for Facebook and my professional name, Delia Lloyd, for everything else. But that just proved confusing. I’ve recently solved that problem by changing my Facebook name to Delia Boylan Lloyd so that there’s something for everyone (including my own multiple personalities…).
But probably the most important reason that I’ve changed my Facebook policy is that there’s absolutely nothing I post there that I wouldn’t be 100% comfortable with other people seeing. Which doesn’t mean that my status updates anodyne or dull. It’s simply that I gradually realized that there’s no rational reason that people who don’t know me – but might want to Know me (in a non-biblical sense, heh-heh) – shouldn’t.
Plus, I’m an inherently extroverted person and I enjoy reading status updates from people I don’t know as much as from those I do. They’re witty, informative and (among other things) often give me writing ideas. And since we now know that social networking isn’t destroying the whole fabric of friendship, just evolving what the concept means, I say, bring it on.
Since I’m opening up my virtual floodgates, let me briefly explain how I use these two wonders of social media. Facebook I use mostly in a very personal sense, by which I mean that I post short, often humorous snippets about my day to day life – e.g. something funny my kids said, a great book I’m reading, a film I’ve seen. It’s a sort of “behind the scenes” RealDelia.
Twitter, in contrast, I tend use in a more professional sense. I share neat articles, interviews and videos I come across, or other cool stuff on the web. It’s very much a sort of daily version of my Friday Pix series, except that I update it throughout the day.
So join me, friends, on Facebook. Here’s a link to my profile, which is also on the “About page” of this blog. (Note: I will ask you how you got to me, just to weed out the crazies.) And if you’d like to follow me, I’ve included a handy-dandy blue bird in my side bar that will take you directly to my twitter feed.
Finally, if you’re one of those people who doesn’t know what any of this is and couldn’t be bothered to find out, I say: do so in good health.
Image: Photo by Deeksha Pahariya on Unsplash
August 17, 2010, 3:58 pm
Hi Delia,
I read your invitation to Facebook and very nearly shuddered (more due to the word “Facebook” than your delightfully worded invitation). I left FB in the spring of 2009 after being deluged with crazies. Even the people I would have enjoyed to interact with seemed drowned out by conservative Christian browbeating. I realize you can “defriend” (which I did) or hide certain people, but with all FB’s other “bells and whistles” it just became too much. I fled to Twitter (as you know, @completelydark) and haven’t looked back. I’ve met many more NEW friends via Twitter than I ever would have on FB. That said, you’re very brave and probably smart to mine your friends/followers for story ideas. I just could now longer stomach “life” on Facebook. Cheers, Mike
August 17, 2010, 8:16 pm
Thanks, Mike. I will take it under advisement. Since I”m already on Twitter (as you know!) I’m not sure I have anywhere to flee, but I’ll see how it goes. Thanks for dropping by!
August 17, 2010, 7:46 pm
fyi I tried to add you as a friend with a “personal message’ that i was a subscriber and a friend and, for the first time on FB, got this
Do you know this user personally? To prevent misuse of Facebook, this request can’t be sent. To learn more, please visit the Help Center. If you believe you’re seeing this message in error, you can report the problem.
August 17, 2010, 8:17 pm
Kare, that is bizarre. maybe just try friending me the regular way (w/out msg) and see if it goes? I’m happy to friend you but need yr last name!
August 17, 2010, 8:19 pm
p.s. Kare-I just searched for you on FB and couldn’t find you-what’s going on!??! I’ll try again later and plse do too. We’ll sort this out. Thanks!
August 24, 2010, 8:02 pm
Oh dear. . . I reached dinosaur status at an early age & persist. Must confess that the very word “friending” makes me want to -er- move on to other words.