Facebook Sucks, But Here are 5 Reasons Why I’m Not Quitting…Yet
If you’re like me, you’ve probably been following the anti-Facebook backlash and nodding in agreement when reading articles like this one. I’m not a super-early adopter, but I’m no Luddite either. I enjoy the Twitterverse. I first got on Facebook many moons ago, back when it was just a college-only phenomenon. I was the first “adult” I knew on Facebook, by virtue of my campus minister temple.edu email address. I got on for ministry purposes, and that’s a big part of why I’m on today.
I just don’t want to be. Facebook has become exponentially less fun, and even less functional, over the passage of time. I spend WAY less time on it than I used to, and when I do it’s strictly on-and-off, for work purposes, unless someone catches me and starts chatting. The things I used to enjoy about Facebook (networking, interesting links) are now generally met and exceeded by Twitter.
Although I would very much like to quit, I don’t think I can do that just yet. Here are 5 reasons why:
1. I work in college ministry. Though I know students who are down on Facebook as well, it’s an indispensable and assumed resource for communication. It would truly handicap my ministry to not have Facebook. I still do a lot of emailing, and the blog helps a bit. But hardly any students tweet. Facebook is the #1 mode of communication (after texting, of course).
2. I raise financial support. Facebook has been one valuable tool (among many) for communication with my group of supporters. Not as valuable as email (I use Constant Contact), but it’s helpful. I’d be foolish to get rid of it.
3. Pretty much everyone I know (except my wife and mom!) is on there. It’s the best way to stay in touch with people whose physical addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers are constantly changing. Though I am SO over any curiosity about what happened to so-and-so from elementary school/Jr. Hi.
4. I love FarmVille. No actually, I don’t. I couldn’t think of another reason, so I’m giving you something I hate about Facebook. I’ve never even seen FarmVille, but along with Lil Green Patch and the infamous FunWall, all the proliferating apps are what caused me to begin hating Facebook in the first place.
5. Something better hasn’t come along yet. But it will. (Remember MySpace? Remember Friendster?). I don’t think social networking is going away. There’s a HUGE need for a more socially conscious, privacy-protecting social network. Maybe it exists, and when it hits critical mass, I’ll be among the first of the legions to jump to it. But until then, I really have no choice but to feed the beast…as little as possible.
Curious–anyone out there in campus ministry land dumped Facebook yet? Anyone know the heir apparent to Facebook? Because I am SO there.
My prediction for the heir apparent to fb: http://www.joindiaspora.com/
I keep waiting for fb to die like MySpace and Friendster, but each new social network takes a bit longer than the last one. It has to do with the generation it targets – fb did a good job by capturing the college aged kids, which then made all the high schoolers covetous until they were allowed in. Now those kids are in college and thoroughly addicted, but once they are out of college and into the working world, and if fb continues with these ridiculous apps and privacy concerns – I predict that diaspora will begin to take hold.
Thanks Bethany. Good insight about each network having more shelf-life than the last one.
I found this article same day you commented:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/12/nyregion/12about.html?src=me&ref=general
yeah there’s this heaps interesting article on http://www.facebookfacts.info that talks about the whole issue of facebook friendship, the fact that employers check your profile before recruitments and even how relationships fall out because of the public nature of facebook, give it a read if you’re bothered