I've been unexpectedly away from home for a few days and am likely to be for a few days more. I hope you will therefore excuse the lack of posts recently.
This being the case I've had to contact some people and let get info from them at short notice. I've discovered a Top Tip: people are happy to ignore e-mails and Google+, but they feel almost obliged to respond to a message on Facebook by return. At one point yesterday evening I was juggling four open message windows (just call me Joe Communications!).
Facebook has a poor reputation - I recently saw it compared to a 'restaurant' where one points at pictures on the menu and says "Ugh, me like!". There is that. It's handy for gently insulting people and sharing pictures of cats - being sillier than you can get away with even in a blog. But I've also found it a useful place.
I first came to Facebook at the insistence of my geographically-spread family, who used it to keep up-to-date when one of us was in hospital and things were touch-and-go. And it's worked - we're much more connected these days (and it even translates into visit each other). My Mother would be surprised - she spent a portion of her final months worrying that the family was going to disintegrate. Actually the opposite has happened (for example, I have tried to bash my brother's brains out in years).
So as far as I'm concerned FB is a handy tool. Google+ is a waste of time.
Back to more interesting posts shortly...
Not got to grips with Google+ either and have resisted Facebook thus far (I have enough difficulties keeping up with the blog) but I have heard of similar stories of its usefulness. It is when abused by people who feel that they have the right to be unpleasant to people simply because they can that I start to get concerned about it.
ReplyDeleteI'm in agreement with you on that point Michael. In my case I have avoided FB simply because the signal to noise ratio is so high. I find G+ works very well. And there are no pictures of what people had for dinner.
DeleteI don't understand either (and don't get me started on Twitter). Even if I could work out how to use them what stops me is that I don't necessarily want all my friends and contacts to know what I am doing generally. Some information for some others for others. No-one to have a complete picture!
ReplyDeleteYesterday, I held my nose and got back on facebook mostly for family and a few close friends. I set up a very stripped down profile. With in minutes I was contacted by people I really didn't want to talk to. Because I have to deal with some of these people in reality, it's a little difficult to completely ignore them. It's a bit like standing in the middle of a busy street and shouting "Hi come talk at me any time you like!"
ReplyDeleteThis is a much different experience than Google+ The people I interact with there are all driven by my choices. I find the interactions more personal and generally more interesting.
I have some muting and categorizing to do on FB that will get it close to G+ but in the end I am on facebook because I have to be and on G+ because I want to be.