I've caught the most aggressive virus I've ever had in my whole life: not a nasty little invisible body-invading parasite, but rather the mammoth time sink that is Facebook.
Of course I immediately began to speculate about what the attraction is. Here are my conclusions to date:
1) Facebook allows for the irresistible, if disgusting, self-indulgence of talking about oneself ...
2) ... without actually having to produce a sequence of thought at any point, because it's all framed for you already. (Intellectually and aesthetically speaking, the difference between blogging and Facebook is the same as the difference between an exam requiring you to write an essay-type answer and an exam involving multiple choice.)
3) Facebook has lots and lots and lots of toys. OOOHHHH, SHINY!
17 comments:
Heh.
I accept full responsibility, but in true Howardian fashion, displace the blame onto Helen Dale who talked me into joining. ;)
That's right -- it was your fault!!
(Or Helen's.)
I have found one fantastically useful application so far and that's the Traveller's IQ one, which shows one just exactly how ignorant one is about geography and then proceeds to teach one better, and in a lightning-fast manner to boot.
What, Mark wrote Crackbook?
I only made it to Level 8. My little niece has a big glowing globe with a sensor pen that does the same thing. All habit forming.
I'm still hesitating about whether I should do the Traveller's IQ test. I have had searing experiences with IQ tests in the past which required me to think mathematically!
Well Brisbane counts as a world city, but a "hard" one ; )
I haven't had Brisbane yet. But I keep putting Canberra in the wrong place!
I'll have to give it a go just so I can find out what that means, Zoe!
Mark, be brave. There is no mathematical thinking involved.
Mark added the Traveler IQ Challenge application. 12:57am
Hooray for facebook: since joining I have been in contact with friends from the intertubes, uni, high school, and even primary school. All of my past and present lives are belong to facebook. And the one glaring and wonderful exception is that there is nobody on there from any current or former workplace...
Mark has also attempted to lure me over to the Crackbook side. I'm frightened.
Indulge.
It's usually the most appropriate response to any situation or dilemma.
I think it's something to do with the indulgence of writing about oneself in the third person, and being able to say that the computer made you do it.
Facebook is a nice aggregator. There seems to be a lag of several hours, however, between your post on your blog and the post appearing as a 'note' in Facebook. A bit irritating.
The LibraryThing import tool is better. It seems to acknowledge new additions to LT instantly.
As to how good Facebook really is: I am dubious. But I set myself up a few days ago and it's sort of nice to have another hook in the Web.
I much, much prefer google reader for aggregating my feeds (or whatever it's called when you look at a lot of blog posts in the same place). Facebook has other things going for it, I don't need to turn it into my one and only portal.
I just joined, and see that it is going to take many many hours of my time. Must go do the Travellers IQ test...
(Just leaped across from LP, which I came to from my new Blog Friends link on Facebook!)
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