The Reluctant Social Networker

At the behest of a friend, I finally decided to make a Facebook profile.  Don’t know if I’ll be a big fan of it, but let’s see what happens.

My reluctances in joining a social networking site were manifold:

• I have had a Web site for many years that gives updates about Ginger and me and our exploits; I have this blog where I share with the world my important musings; so I didn’t need yet another site.
• I still gag a little when I hear anyone mention a myspace page, and gag a lot whenever I have the misfortune of actually seeing one.  Myspace is the bad apple that spoiled the whole idea of social networking sites for me.
• I would rather not have to keep up with information in multiple places.  I actually did a research project in college about storing volatile information in multiple places and the headaches that ensue from managing all the instances of duplicate data or what happens when you don’t.
• I’m not freaked out about it or anything, but there’s something to be said for NOT having your life’s details out there on a public network to be seen by who-knows-who.
• I’m lazy.  Which doesn’t necessarily mean that I didn’t want to start something, but made me wary of getting into something that would just fizzle out due to lack of interest.
• I might be annoyed with so much activity.  In this age of instant communication, some people send a message and expect a reply right away.  I’m not like that.  I can let something sit for some time while I stew on it.  People might think I don’t like them if I’m not up to their level of chatter.

But despite the reasons for not Facebooking, there are reasons for it, which I decided threw the balance in its favor.  The whole point in having neilandginger.com and a blog is for some sort of interaction with the world, including friends, family, and random strangers, and that interaction is enhanced as traffic is increased.  Kind of like marketing.  So Facebook may funnel some traffic to the places where the real good stuff is.  Not to mention, it’s an acceptable way to reestablish casual contact with people I don’t hang around with any more due to geography, etc.   So here I am, Facebook: NeilMeister the reluctant social networker.