So anyway, I decided to give it a shot and signed up for Google surveillance and just... didn't get it at all. I suspect that if I had been on Facething, I'd understand it and think it was similar but different and better? I guess? I stared and stared at it and thought, "What is this? What am I supposed to do now?" And then I saw people who wanted to circle me or whatever and thought, "Who is this person? Do I know this person? I don't recognize this name, or this one either." Is this what being "prodded" feels like?
It came close to being an existential crisis*. And then I searched and searched and found the place where I could express my desire to not participate, and did so. And now I feel all better! The end.
*Not really.
21 comments:
I'm so glad the story had a happy ending. Somebody sent me an invitation too, I thought about it for a nanosecond, envisioned the experience you so beautifully described, and thought, fuck it, the only people I want to be in touch with already know how to get hold of me.
I use Facebutt quite frequently (and hopefully have driven a little traffic your way on the occasions when I've linked a particularly swell installment of PSP), and I got my plus-sized Google invitation a week or so ago, and I can't figure it out either. It's apparently inscrutably simple.
I was invited. I entered. I put Peter Whathisname in my acquaintances circle. Already, it feels too much like Facething with people I only kinda want to be in touch with posting constantly.
I get the feeling that being a blogger in 2011 is analogous to still having a Walkman (which I don't), but I like blogging and e-mail and social networks really don't work for me.
I dislike the brevity that is forced upon you by most social networks. Not much of substance can be explored easily. Also there is that obligation to 'friend' family members and workmates. Now I have to put up with racist jokes and God posts from THAT side of the family and mindless spam from people who really should just shut up. I despise facethingie but the guilt I feel about living so far away from my family keeps me returning to it again and again.
Good thing you got out while you could.
Nobody's invited me! Sniff...
I will guiltily admit that I am on the Facething. I did see your name on the Google+thing and added you. I do not understand the Google+thing however and so far have not been inclined to want to understand it.
That's a pretty sweet graphic BTW!
I do facebook. I totally thrive doing social media type stuff. I know it's not for everyone, but some of my best friends are people I interact with mostly, if not 100% via social media. As a transwoman, I've gotten so much information and support from people I know at facebook. It has its downsides (time suck, for instance), but I like being in touch with so many people, knowing little details they give about their daily lives, etc, etc.
I feel very sorry for people who consider names and blips on a screen friends. And as pointed out, even if you do know that person IRL, well, the downside has been said quite well by another commenter.
No mytwitbook for this gal. I do my "social networking" in person, by telephone (gads! remember those?) and email.
Second kudo for the clever recognition of the bullocks.
I don't even want to see the movie, "The Social Network."
On facething people are even more boring than they are face to face.
Anonymous -- depends on the people. It's just a different style of blogging, it's more interactive. The main advantage I see of blogger over it is that you are the captain of your own ship in a much more direct way here. You can do everything you can do with a blogger account at facebook, except you can't really control the look of your page the same way. Facebook also has a not-great attitude towards privacy, but if you stay on top of things there, you can control who sees your content and to what purpose it's put well enough.
And COB -- I really don't need your sympathy, I'm just fine thanks.
You can go ahead and be friends with THAT part of the family, but HIDE them from your news feed. That way, they don't know you've never seen their racist rants or sexist jokes.
Most recent anonymous -- I wish I could click "like"! :)
"Not great" on the privacy thing is putting it mildly. Very mildly. I have no desire to share my personal information with Mark Zuckerberg. Sorry.
Fucke all this faceshitte garbage. I am trivial to find on the Internet if someone wants to find me, and I really don't give a fucken shitte about anyone's fucken children or pets and how fucken cute they are or their stupid fucken hobbies. PhysioWife dickes around on faceshitte, and sometimes she shows me these pictures of one of my buddies who loves fishing of him in fucken hipwaders and holding up some big fucken fish. I DON'T CARE!
You go, Diane!
Anyway, I just wanted to make it clear that I don't have a problem with people using and enjoying the Facething, the Twitters, etc. They're just not a good fit for me.
Amen, Princess!
Peter -- I knew you would understand. I never worry about being a dissenting voice here. :)
Facething will make us even more illiterate than we already are. I suppose there is nothing terribly wrong with that, as we in our meaningless century essentially have nothing to say, either in spoken or written ("grammatical") form. I suspect Trappist monks would have preferred Twitter over Facebook, as it limits so-called "communications" to 140 characters. Best of all, of course, the admirably speechless monks would have preferred total silence, arguably the key to eternal salvation, as it is the only form of truth, in a Franciscan sense.
Tiutchev: "The thought expressed is a lie."
Wow! Cool! A FaceThingTroll did its best to threadjack the comments!
Sweet.
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