1 year ago today, I started using facebook.
I was already on myspace, which I started in 2005. At the time, myspace was a still emerging fad, not yet the subject of controversial news stories on stalkers or kids who revel too much info about themselves. I just started using myspace, because when I tried to look up people I was working with at Palama Settlement online, I discovered one of them had a myspace. So I started a myspace page, then I encouraged a few friends to try.
A few years later, I heard about facebook. At first, it was only for those with a .edu e-mail address (given to those attending college), but it was later opened up for everyone. I even remember hearing it had more users than myspace, but I was still too lazy to start a facebook page.
So what finally got me into starting the use of facebook
1) Around April 2009, I sent a bulletin on myspace if anyone had information about my high school's 10 year reunion. One of my myspace friends then sent a bulletin mentioning that our classmates were planning it on facebook. I replied to that person to thank her for the info, then mentioned I was thinking about starting on facebook. However, I kept delaying that!
2) One of my employers in the substitute teaching industry sent an e-mail to everyone on her list to check out some of her photos on facebook.
3) Around the same time as #2, one of my closest friends also mentioned on the phone that he got a facebook page.
4) around the same time as #2 and #3, I was still waiting for additional information about an upcoming reunion.
So on June 10, 2009, I finally decided to start a facebook page, with some pressure from situations #2 and #3, and I was desperate for more info on the upcoming high school reunion and I was hoping that I would get more info on facebook.
On my first few days on facebook, as I was looking up people from McKinley High School, class of 1999, I found some people that I wasn't even able to find on myspace. That was when I realized how true the reports on "facebook having more users than myspace" really was!
I still have my myspace, because it allows for an individualized web-page design, and it's good for looking up music. And I still do occasionally find a few people there as well.
However, facebook started having "status updates" before myspace did! I think myspace started having "status updates" only because they realized THAT was the reason why many had quit myspace and switch to facebook.
Now, my facebook list has 214 friends. These are people from various parts of my life, from elementary school, middle school, high school, college, a few work colleagues, and a few others I met in other phases of my life! You'd be surprised how easy it is to get that many people on your list. In fact, I know people who started facebook later than me, have more people than 214.
Having that many people on the list, and reading their updates on their lives has been very emotionally beneficial for me! Just being connected to them makes me feel good, even on days when I am feeling down. We can also share our joys in our triumphant moments, and we can also console each other in our greatest tragedies. Even if we live miles away and haven't seen each other in person since the previous millenium. I've seen so many of that happening in my 1st year of facebook, and will so more of it soon.
The most heart-warming part of using facebook was reconnecting with a few I haven't seen since elementary school. So much life happened since then, but we still remember each other! I'll always cherish that!
I also remember finding a classmate from my elementary & middle school years, but moved to a high school on the opposite side of the island. So, obviously she missed out in the high school lives of her elementary & middle school classmates! When I found her, I also convinced her to look at my facebook list, and she reconnected with classmates who were once closer to her than I was! That is something I will always be proud of! I also offered others to look at my facebook list to find people too, with varying degrees of success!
And I have used other people's facebook list to reconnect with others as well! Much thanks to them as well!
Also, with facebook, I can advertise my blog posts to more people than I did before! More people exposed to my ideas is always a good thing :) :) :)
If you haven't joined facebook, JOIN IN! You'll reconnect with long-lost friends, and you get to keep up with their lives. You'll wish you done it sooner.
Just be careful what you post on there. People can easily find out what you post on there and can easily take it the wrong way. Just approach facebook like a mature adult, and you'll do fine!
