Facebook: A True Benefit

Me and some high school friends in Ocean City, Maryland in the summer of '78

Social media is probably the biggest catchphrase for this first half of the 21st century. Several months ago I wrote about my beginning foray into this new form of communication. At that time I wasn't sure about the benefit but I was willing to give it a try. Twitter has turned out to be beneficial by way of driving traffic to my blog, allowing me to establish relationships with other, bigger bloggers and to form relationships with some of my followers. I enjoy Twitter and I'm glad I chose to be active with it.

There is a lot written about the business benefits of Facebook as well. I was a little ambivalent about that possibility. All of my family is on Facebook and I really saw it more as a way to keep in touch socially than a way to promote business ventures. I approached it with that in mind and I've had a lot of fun with it. In addition to my family, several friends from grade school have found me and it's been great to be in touch with them.

I grew up in Maryland, moved to Texas when I was sixteen and now, thirty one years later, am back in the east. My older sister still lives in Frederick, Maryland, and I've spent the last week visiting her. Thanks to Facebook I've was able to make contact with a couple of old friends who are still in that area. Unfortunately there was a miscommunication with one of my high school friends and we were unable to get together. I'm determined to make that work on my next visit.

One woman who was a very close friend of mine in junior high school found me on Facebook awhile back and we've been communicating. She now lives in eastern Virginia and I met her for lunch on my way to my sister's house. Although neither one of us can remember why, we haven't spoken since she went off to another high school and we lost touch. We started talking the minute she walked into the restaurant and 2 1/2 hours later we were still talking and laughing and wishing we had more time. I had to get to my sister's and was worrying about commuter traffic so we said goodbye. Now we're making plans to meet for a weekend somewhere after I get settled in Tennessee. Another high school friend has settled in Georgia and we're planning to meet for lunch when I'm there in April.

I waste a lot of time on Facebook and yes, I play all those silly games and need to get that under control. Had I gone into it differently it may be that Facebook would also have helped develop more traffic for my blog but I went into it socially and it has paid me back manyfold. I've rediscovered lost friends and made some new ones and that, to me, is a true benefit of Facebook.