This postEveryone’s heard of Facebook by now, but I still run into scads of people who are staunchly anti. Or at least apathetic. And so, without further ado, I give you nine reasons why you should join Facebook.
1. Addresses change. With our shrunken world, people move around a lot. E-mail addresses change not infrequently. Phone numbers change too, albeit perhaps not as much. And what if someone neglects to give you their new contact information? Good luck finding them. Facebook, on the other hand, stays in place, and it gives you access to your friends’ e-mail addresses and phone numbers, too. (If they choose to list them, of course.)
2. Facebook resurrects friendships. Through Facebook, I’ve gotten in contact again with dozens and dozens of people I’d lost track of because of #1.
3. Facebook helps you keep track of birthdays. Small and unimportant, perhaps, but it’s a lifesaver when you want to know who’s birthday is coming up.
4. Facebook doesn’t replace real life; it supplements it. Facebook helps you maintain the friendships you’ve got, keeping track of where people are going and what’s going on in their lives. Sure, you can do that in real life, too, but do you really have the time and energy to do it for all your friends? Facebook helps you be a better friend. Really.
5. Facebook enhances your networks. The world is a small place, and there are all sorts of connections you’ve never known existed. Whenever you go to someone’s profile, Facebook shows you the mutual friends between you and that person, expanding your knowledge of who knows who. And besides, it’s fun.
5. Facebook only takes as much time as you want to put into it. People can get addicted to something like Facebook because we humans are social creatures, and social stuff is fun. And that’s okay. But you’re still the one in control — you don’t have to check your profile every half-hour if you don’t want to. And if you do get addicted, you don’t have to pull the plug — it’s not that hard to pull back a little bit without going all the way.
7. Facebook respects your privacy. You don’t have to reveal information you don’t want out in the open. Don’t want your phone number listed? No problem. And if you want your friends to see your e-mail address, but no one else? Piece of cake.
8. Facebook isn’t just for college students. While it may originally have been targeted at twenty-somethings, it’s branching out now to every age group. Nowadays, Facebook is as much for high school kids and octogenarians as it is for the college crowd.
9. Facebook is it. Yes, there are other social networks, and no, they’re not all worthless. But Facebook has 30 million users and it’s growing like wildfire. It’s going to be the largest social network in the world. Now, sometimes it’s stupid to hop on the bandwagon, but in this case it’s the right thing to do, because Facebook is going to become as ubiquitous as the telephone. Like it or not, the Internet is a major part of life in the 21st century, and Facebook is going to be one of the deciding factors in whether or not you exist as far as the web is concerned. Don’t be left behind in the 20th century — go to facebook.com and sign up, now. :)
And no, Facebook is not paying me to write this post. :)
