Tuesday, September 29, 2009

The Relevance of Facebook

This tweet came across my tweetdeck the other day

Facebook continues to grow less relevant for me...

and it really got me thinking about the relevance of Facebook in my own life. I have had a like/ambivalence relationship with Facebook (love/hate implies a far greater emotional investment than I'm willing to lay claim) ever since I joined to "check it out" at the request of a friend concerned about her daughter. I've lived through the poking, super-poking, sheep-throwing insanity at the beginning. I've tolerated the endless quiz, forward to 10 friends and cause requests that followed. Yes, there was a time when Facebook seemed entirely irrelevant.



However that tide, for me at least, is seeming to turn. The parents in my community are beginning to harness the power of FB as a community building and communication tool. Status updates are a mix of personal quips and community information broadcast. The ambient awareness that status updates provide has afforded me the opportunity to reach out and help friends that I might not of otherwise known needed help. Sharing links has moved past the "cutest thing on youtube" and now includes interesting articles, relevant information and even recipes for supper. Groups are springing up to address everything from swapping/trading your no longer needed kid stuff to farm wives supporting each other through the harvest season. Facebook fanpages such as this one have the potential to connect parents to school, sports or clubs in a whole new way. Yes a lot has changed since I was first super poked.

I would have never guessed in those early days of FB that it would become an indispensable tool in my trusty parent toolbelt.

The irrelevant is turning relevant at an extremely fast pace.

Unless of course someone starts hurling sheep at me again ..



I'd love to know.. where do you stand on the FB continuum? Is it growing less or more relevant in your day to day life?

Images
Eye Poking via flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/kt/8664365/
Flying Sheep via flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/tronics/42856153/

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