Myspace is creepy. When I was working as an actor I pretty much had to have a myspace page because there were some casting directors, producers and fellow actors who used it. I still have a page, but check it less and less often.
I was hesitant to join Facebook, because I assumed it was pretty much the same thing. After a year or so, I have decided that Facebook is a great resource for a guy like me. It's the perfect thing for an introvert who is still curious about his friends around the world. It takes a lot for me to pick up the phone and calls someone to "check in." My wife does this several times a day with her family and friends. To be honest, I think Debbie and my parents are the only people I have ever called in my entire life without having a real reason. I hate the phone. I've always loved e-mails and have been a loyal blogger for seven years now. The www gives me that tiny bit of extra space that I need to be a social being. As a pastor of a big church, it's also proving to be a good way to communicate back and forth with fellow VCC'ers. The house church guy in me can get a little overwhelmed wanting to know everyone at VCC, but knowing that it's all but impossible. I've probably "met" as many people in my church via Facebook as I have after the weekend Celebrations.
Facebook is to social networking what Google was to information searching. It's hard to remember the web before google perfected the search engine, but it wasn't nearly so connected as it is now. This post is nothing more than an acknowledgement that i have gulped the FB Kool-aid and firmly believe that it is changing the way people will communicate in the years to come. I'll be using it more and more to communicate with people who may have reason to care about things I care about. For VCC'ers, I plan on starting a FB Bible Study in the coming months...still thinking through how it would work in practicum, so send over any thoughts you might have. What sort of web based Bible study would interest you? How can we use FB as a tool to think out of the box in terms of learning, discussion, prayer, etc.
Here are some links for those of you who facebook:
Become my Facebook Friend.
Official Facebook page for The Vineyard.
Join the Q City Players Facebook fan page for info on upcoming improv shows. (This is my Cincy-based improv "garage band")
Now for a short disclaimer: I don't "poke" or "throw snowballs" or take compatibility tests on Facebook...that's just silly.
4 comments:
You should try the superpoke. If you thought regular poking was fun...well...get ready to live.
I am aware of several people who have been working at forming online communities through a variety of web based social networking tools. I have been using a blog for our small group at VCC in an attempt to take our group a step further than our every other week meetings. I have had little success in my group attempts within Facebook, but I believe that it can work with a committed group of people.
I agree...it's good for an introvert nerd like me..:) But I used facebook to work, too. The Page feature is really usefull...information sent to :members: easily, and everyone in the group knows what's going on. (It's like uncluttered mailing list). You can also post podcast, youtube, and links...may be that can be used for a bible study group? (I assume if you administer it, it will be a huge group, like 600 people or more..)...:)
I hated FB when it first became available to the general public. I liked the cleaner look and the more palatable ads, but why did I care if Betsy added the Flower Garden application or that Frank added Gabby to his friend's list? And stope poking me already! I snubbed it and clung to MySpace...A few months later, however, I started getting friend requests from folks I hadn't seen in years...And now I am a complete FB junkie. MySpace is still OK, but I rarely visit, I must admit because everyone is on FB!
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