Six years ago, several of my out of state friends begged me to join Facebook. “It’s a great way to keep in touch with everyone!” they argued. Reluctantly I joined and was surprised to find how quickly I was able to reconnect with old friends. We were able to share pictures of our families and occasional anecdotes. It was fun to log on and scroll through to see what my closest friends were up to. But that was so four years ago. Today Facebook is almost unrecognizable from those days of old. Here are the biggest changes I see:
Pictures- When I first joined, the majority of the pictures that my friends posted were of their families. Tonight when I scrolled through my news feed, I was blessed to see pictures of what seven of my friends had for dinner. One had fried chicken, one had a steak, one wanted me to know that they were eating clean and took a picture of something they claimed was fabulous but looked a lot like a plate of dirt to me. Next, there were the selfies. Those that wanted everyone to see what they looked like while they were doing whatever activity they were enjoying. There are the sexy selfies, the duck face selfies, the “Look I”m not wearing any makeup but still want everyone to tell me I’m fabulous” selfies, the “I am pretending to be asleep but it is really me taking the picture” selfies…..the list goes on and on. Then there are the pictures of my friends that want me to know they exercise. It may be a picture of their running shoes, their bicycle wheel, or a yoga mat. “Go for it” I think as I lay back in my recliner. And finally there is the meme. There are countless funny memes out there that can just about describe anything you may be going through. Why should you share your feelings when a picture of Kermit the Frog or Grumpy Cat can do it for you?
Video- In the early days, you could not post videos to Facebook. I am so glad that you can do that now. People are able to post some amazing things that their families are doing. This is also mixed in with countless videos of gorillas, cats, British practical joke shows, X Factor auditions that promise to make you cry, and laughing babies that belong to complete strangers. Somedays I have to scroll through pages and pages just to come to a video or picture of someone I know.
Sharing- Facebook has become a great way to share information. Just today I could have read articles on how to raise my child, how to use my body’s electricity to charge my phone, how to cut the perfect watermelon using two plates, and what is right or wrong with every political candidate running for office anywhere in the country. There are also some great blogs out there to share like “There’s Mop and Glo in my Spaghetti”! (Please share my blog!)
Status Updates- Rather than just use this to share fun stories about what you’re up to, status updates have become a great place to state your opinions on hot topic issues and then use the comment section to argue with those who don’t agree with you. I am not sure how many people have ever changed their mind about a social issue based on a Facebook status update. I know I haven’t. I have Facebook friends who are republican and democrat. Friends that are straight and ones who are gay. I have friends of many nationalities. I respect that we may believe different things and hope that you can do the same.
I miss the old Facebook. I miss seeing pictures of my good friends and their kids or their travels. Maybe one day it will go back to the site I first fell in love with. But for now, I suppose I should go post a selfie of me having a snack while wearing my favorite political candidate’s button on my Grumpy Cat T-shirt. Should get a lot of “Likes”.
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