My Facebook Philosophy

I am officially the last person in America to see the Social Network. But I did finally see it and I loved it. You see, I’ve come a long way since when I first started on Facebook with my twelve friends,  I’m on it every day: posting, checking statuses, sending messages, even using it to promote my other blog, Workout of the Week.

Since I’m such an FB-expert now--people in the know write it as FB—I really enjoyed seeing this somewhat accurate account of how it all got started. After watching it I recalled how someone once posed the question: Since it started out as a college networking tool and now it’s for the masses, why are the college kids still on it?

Good question. I mean, if a club opened up that was immediately popular with college kids, would they stick around if a bunch of stay-at-home moms started hitting the dance floor? Or what if those college kids started wearing their hats sideways and then the senior citizens said, “That’s cool. We’re gonna wear our hats sideways too.” Wouldn’t those college kids turn their hats back to the front?

But with Facebook, the college kids are hanging in there. They don’t care that we moms are on there talking about potty training; computer nerds are on there with all their hacking lingo; grandmas are on there posting pics; polticians are on there spouting their agendas; even dogs are there. Yes, I’m friends with a dog!

Here’s why they’re still there: They don’t see the rest of us. At the club they’d have to see us moms dancing to Ke$ha. Yuck! Or on the street, they’d see gramps with his hat sideways. But on Facebook, they can stay in their own little microcosm. They don’t have to accept Uncle Rodney’s friend request. And because they don’t see us, they still think it’s cool.

Sure, Facebook is just as cliquish as the real world. It’s just that the cliques are bigger and you don’t have to see the other groups. And college kids, you should be grateful for that because this mom is in potty training mode this week.