Facebook -Keeping up with Friends or Keeping Up with the Jones's

I love Facebook.  There....I said it.  My guilty pleasure. I am not alone, there are more than 500 million ACTIVE users.  One in every 13 people on EARTH are on Facebook.   71.2% of the U.S. Web Audience is on Facebook. Those are a LOT of people on Facebook.  I am on Facebook for the same reason I think most people are on, ok....most people in my age group.   I like it because I grew up in one city, went to college in another city and then moved across the country to live in another really large city before settling down where I am currently at.  I have three sons, work full time, am active at my son's school, AND am active in several non profits.  My friends and family are all over and very important to me.  I struggled on a weekly basis keeping in touch yet keeping up with life.  Then...ta da.....Facebook.  I could take a look at what was going on in my friends and family's live's miles away.  My cousin in Australia has an art exhibit that I can see and then tell her how great I think she is doing.  My roommate in college posts pictures of her daughters and I can comment on how much her younger daughter looks like her.  I can support the friend whose son is being treated for cancer.  I can cheer on my friend who is going back to school.  And I can find comfort at what made us friends in the first place:  their sense of humor, they way they care about others, their sharp wit, or their ability to share knowledge.  I can do this in 15 minutes a night or first thing in the morning before anyone else is up.

What I don't want to do is to end up being ONLY a Facebook friend.  And yes I have those too. One of the stats I did not mention earlier is that 57% of people talk to friends online more then they do in real life. I do NOT want to become one of them.  So,  yes, I can cheer up my friend whose son was diagnosed with cancer on a daily basis with chat or postings but as I friend that is not a substitute for when I should be making that call to talk in person.  Cheering for my friend's daughter who is nationally ranked in field hockey is awesome ONLY if I can make a game here and there as we live in the same area.  facebook adds to the friendship in my book, doesn't replace it or become the main way of connecting.  And no, I am not preaching to you, I am reminding myself as I have gravitated that way from time to time as I find the 'easy' in how I can maintain this way. 

I do wonder sometimes about those out there who look at Facebook as a way of keeping up with the Jones's.  'Got a new boat this weekend and had a great time with it on the river with friends!"  "Our party over the 4th was the biggest so far"  "Johnny's graduation from medical school and now on to his private practice"  We all roll our eyes when we get these Christmas cards, with the added insult of this being the only communication all year, but somehow on Facebook it is doesn't translate to being as braggy. Or does it?   And somehow the additional comments from others - "your boat looks a lot like the one we had a few years back before we upgraded to blahblahblah", and   'Oh, a snake got into your house, well imagine when we had an alligator get into ours',  only add to idea that maybe we are a lot more interested in how we appear to others then we should be.

Some let it get the best of us too.  Recently a Chicago woman so felt the need to brag on Facebook she not only did so but was then arrested by police for her part in a bar fight where a woman was injured.  Urban Dictionary even has an entry called 'facebook brag' indicating what an epidemic it is with the description  'to post something that one would not otherwise publicly flaunt..'

I am really lucky to have friends on Facebook that I do consider 'friends' so I don't run into this too often so my love affair with Facebook is still in the honeymoon stage, and I am happy with that, for now.