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The Facebook Craze (and other social networks)
To be honest, I haven’t seen the appeal of social networks. I’d been asked to join a few over the past few years. I’ve joined the free ones (Plaxo, LinkedIn, etc.), but I haven’t actually gotten anything out of them. I see that they are great for people who are making their way up the corporate ladder, but I quit that race a while ago…
I’m all for networking, especially as I am raising capital for my software company and looking for a publisher for my books. But, the business type social networks have just seemed like places to store resumes.
Yet…
Due to the fact that so many people around me have been talking positively about how much fun Facebook has been for them over the past few weeks since they joined, I decided to give it a try — after all, my 20th high school class reunion should be this year. I tried Classmates.com a few years back and was able to reconnect with a few friends from school, but overall it was an expense that didn’t justify renewal.
My experience with Facebook: Within hours, I’d found and become “friends” with more than 30 people from my past. Within a day, I’d connected with over 80 people. Within a week, I was at well over 100 “friends”. All on one list I have my elementary/junior high school friends, my high school friends, a few college friends, old mothering group friends, and local and world-wide unschooling friends. Now I just need to find some more relatives. 
If you have any desire to reconnect with people from your past, give Facebook a try. It’s free (there are advertisements that support it), and somewhat fun. Apparently there are games to play, also, but I haven’t figured that all out yet (and I might not ever). I’ve enjoyed learning where people from my past have ended up, who they are married to, and what their children (and grandchildren in some cases!) look like. I plan to continue to check it out.
Related Articles:
- #Facebook and the Different Sides of Me
- The Socialization Myth and Teens
- Choosing Friends
- “Are you qualified to teach your children?”
- Talking about Unschooling