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I Finally Gave In

August 25th, 2008. Published under General. 3 Comments.

Well, that’s a bit misleading - I should say that I finally signed up for a Facebook account.

Up until now, I’ve been using LinkedIn for my professional networking. However, it’s pretty obvious that LinkedIn is not going to grow as much as Facebook has already. I’m using it mainly to network, and since my LinkedIn account filled up with people I don’t want on there and/or acquaintances that have no relevance to my career - I’m only adding people I really want to have in my network to Facebook. If you friend me and I don’t do the same, it’s nothing personal - I’m just crafting a network full of people I want to be associated with. Some are contacts I’ve made through podcasting, some through Pownce, and some are close friends - but all of the ones I’ve added I’ve at least spoken to personally. If I’ve met you once or twice, have a friend in common but I don’t know you that well, or you’re someone I’m not friends with anymore - I’m probably not going to add you unless it makes sense to do so.

The place where I’m not as discerning who is my friend or not is on Pownce - I’ll add just about anybody on there. But then, Pownce is a whole different animal than most social networks - there’s a concentration for personal interaction and not a psycho friend grab so you can tweet* at me. I’ve made some great contacts and met some awesome people on Pownce - and I attribute that to my liberal friending policy. However, I do think there should be a disconnect between social networking and career networking.

I know that there are people I know that will most likely go to Facebook, track me down and add me. There are only a few people that I want on my list that are not on Facebook, everyone else I wanted to add were on there already. Down the road, I’m sure former classmates will find me on there and add me - and that’s OK. Same goes with family. One of my brothers is on there already, and I can see other family members doing the same. But that doesn’t necessarily mean I’m going to add you in return.

Where was I going with this? I’m just trying to avoid any misunderstandings when it comes to whom I friend and whom I don’t “friend” on there. Because I can see it being a problem.

Wow. That came out a bit more draconian than I intended. Oh well. :-)

On a side note, I’m still trying to figure out how the site works. Some of the “find your ~whatever~” search boxes don’t work the best and I’m still trying to wrap my head around the applications and all the other things so prevalent on the site. I guess I’ll figure it out eventually. Not too worried about it.

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I went to a baby shower this weekend and met an NFL Hall of Famer. That was interesting!

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* - I fucking hate Twitter and everything associated with it. I especially hate the people who send their Twitter blather to other sites (i.e. Pownce) - if I wanted to read your stupid Twitter posts, I’d sign up for Twitter.