Facebook At It's Best

Facebook is definitely a popular social media website but it garners it's share of criticism for it's privacy policies.   From a personal perspective, I've had a Facebook account for many years now.  Originally, I thought it was cool to "check in", post status messages and various other things of interest.

These days, I do not "check in" anymore.   I found that friends don't really care where you are at.   Plus, by "checking in" you are exposing that you are NOT HOME.    Not that my friends are going to do anything, but if someone got into a friends account, you never know what might happen.

I will occasionally post a status message if I feel the need to.  But the only remaining thing I do frequently is post links to items of interest.  I may post videos, news articles or even my own blog articles.  I use Facebook as way to share things that others may be interested in.

One really cool thing that I found recently is the use of Facebook groups.  The groups have been around for a while but I think Facebook may some changes recently which made them more useful.  When you are a part of a group, you get notifications of people posting items in the group.  I've started a few different groups and part of a few others.

All of the groups have a specific theme that ties the people together.  For example, I started a group for a company that I used to work for.  I had a lot of former co-workers as my friends and added them to the group.  From the 80 or so people I started off with, the group jumped to some 150 members a few days later as other folks added more people.

There was a surprising amount of people contributing to the group with memories of their employment histories.  Plus, all of the postings were read by a significant amount of people.   I believe I have found the secret of Facebook.  It's not about reading all of your friend's news feed constantly.  It's not about playing Mafia Wars or other games.

It's about CONNECTING people, but not superficially.   Just having your timeline, reading the newsfeed and other things doesn't mean you're connected to others.  Using groups where people can share of their shared experiences is what Facebook should be about.

Beyond the group for my former company, I had some groups for several basketball leagues I was part of.  I had a chance to share some old photos that I had saved.  Thus the groups not only allow us to share memories but preserve some of the history of things as well.

Preserving Memories - Facebook style

(Originally posted to my Facebook account)

While Facebook has it's share of positives and negatives, I think one of best things Facebook has done is to preserve old memories for years and future generations to come.

How so? Firstly, Facebook capitalized on what Friendster and MySpace started. Facebook made connecting with people extremely easy. Not only did Facebook allow users to connect with their current friends, it allowed people to connect with people they may not have thought of in years including old classmates and co-workers.

Secondly, with the move toward digital photos, this has made it easier for people to share their photos online. However, people are not just sharing their current photos. There has been a trend for people to share their OLD photos which included their old friends, classmates and co-workers.

Conversely, with old friends connecting and old photos being uploaded, it was inevitable that old times and memories would be shared and discussed. What was once reserved for reunions and other get togethers were happening online at Facebook. But just because stuff was happening on Facebook didn't mean reunions stopped. In fact, many get togethers and reunions were spurred by people reconnecting again online at Facebook.

It is unfortunate that as we get older, our memories start to fade and all that we have left are the momentos that we keep with us (photos, yearbooks, etc) of years past. Thanks to Facebook, not only can these momentos be shared but so can our memories. The more the memories are shared with others, the more it will be remembered in the future.