Facebookized?

Nowdays,

When I meet new friends, instead of asking them for their telephone number, I will ask them “what’s your Facebook?”;

When I am working on a project with partners, instead of booking a time available for everyone, I will create a Facebook group, add everyone in and post any thoughts I come up with in the group;

When I want to tale to a friend online, instead of logging in MSN, I will open the Facebook website to see if he or she is online and send him or her a Facebook message;

…

For the record, I did not started to use Facebook until July this year. Before then, I used the equivalent version Renren in Mainland China. But now, I would make an effort to climb over the Great Fire Wall to get on Facebok even if I am in Mainland China.

Facebook-addicted? Definitely. But why?

First of all, unlike Renren that connects only with people within Mainland China, Facebook is a global network. I have friends from the U.S., the U.K., Russia, Lebanon, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Syria, Iraq, etc and THEY ALL USE FACEBOOK. Recently I met a new friend that comes from Burma and HE USES FACEBOOK TOO. Without Facebook, I am just an ordinary Chinese girl isolated in the world, immersed in the highly-restricted Chinese network which I thought to be the real whole world. Facebook provides a window for me to connect to other parts of the world.

Facebook is a social networking site in its nature. Regarding this, it is doing a great job. One good thing about using Facebook to connect with your friends is that you are learning what they’ve been up to PASSIVELY instead of getting to know ACTIVELY. I’m not saying that this is a a positive side, but it surely saves a lot of trouble calling people asking them how are they. Facebook allows us to take a few steps back and take control of our social network.

What’s more, Facebook helps maintain constantly going-on conversations. Those status updates, messages and groups discussions are always there; they are saved on the server. When you open your Facebook, they won’t go away. Whether participants of conversation is online or not is not an issue anymore – they can still see it when they get on. This feature helps us go beyond the limit of time and space. It also reduces the pressure of face-to-face real time communication.

Four months ago, I did not know how to tag people on Facebook. Now, Facebook is the best way to reach me and I’m writing this post to say good things about it. How amazing!