By Glypie Grider
I was against it from the beginning. I wanted no part in it, and, frankly, I was freaked out by the concept.
But four weeks ago I did something I was convinced I would never do – I caved in and joined. I claimed it was for work-related networking purposes, but really, I just wanted in.
Most of my friends didn’t believe me when I told them I’d signed on to the social circle of cyber-space known as Facebook. I had adamantly opposed the popular dot-com, claiming it was too invasive and too fleeting to be a real networking tool. But now, less than a month after I joining that well-known Mark Zuckerberg production, I have amassed 319 “friends.”
I’ve logged on to search for classmates, professors and administrators, finding it especially interesting that the University of Louisville president James Ramsey and his wife, Jane, are members. But why not? They have faces and are just as much entitled to have friends as the rest of the site’s addicts, right?
Still, the chatty communities clumped like seasonal berries by some of my fellow Facebookers puzzle me. I’m the type who has at least met all of the people I’m willing to claim as friends. Granted, I wouldn’t call them all “true friends,” but I do have some connection with each of them beyond the World Wide Web.
Some have said Facebook is the worst social disease to hit college campuses nationwide, and, despite my participation, I would have to agree. The popular “networking” Web site is now available at 33 colleges in Kentucky alone. It has also expanded to include some high schools. And, strangely enough, members of the collegiate and high school Facebook realms can communicate with each other. Seems like trouble waiting to happen if you ask me.
But, alas, despite the negative stigmas, I check my messages and review my “wall” any time I see a computer. I get just as excited as every other Facebook fanatic, squealing with glee – at least on the inside – when my beloved home page tells me I have a “friend request” awaiting my confirmation. Heaven help me should someone add “friend details” to elaborate on our connection.
Even when I graduate I know the fun won’t have to stop. I’ll just change my “student” status to “alumnae” or “grad student” and continue my profile-updating, photo-uploading, quasi-cyber-stalking madness. What more can one ask for in life?
