This Facebook Thing

I'm not so sure about it.

I've been facebooking now for about a month. I don't know. Is it worth it? Does it just eat up more of my valuable time? It seems to be eating up blogging time for some participants--friends who no long update their blogs and such.

But it's not the same thing as a blog. If I do a Google search for information on some particular topic, Google isn't going to point me to a facebook page. But it will point me to any number of blogs with relevant facts and links.

In many ways it's fun to facebook. I'm having conversations with distant friends and relatives that I certainly wouldn't intentionally pick up the phone to have--like chatting with nieces and nephews who I rarely get a chance to speak to unless we're attending the same family function. So, in that respect, I can certainly see the value of it.

But in other ways it's an annoying distraction. My facebook homepage is stocked with comments and activities of friends and family that I'm not hugely interested in. I don't really care that one facebook friend is playing a particular game, or that another facebook friend is hungry and leaving the computer to get a bite to eat. But all that shows up on my facebook page. All of it. It's like standing in a room full of people, trying to listen to each little cell of conversation that's going on. It's a little schizophrenic.

But I'm there. I have a few fairly illustrious friends, too. Like Campbell New Author Award winner Mary Robinette Kowal and multi-published author Dave Farland. Mary and I have been friends for five years or so. Dave I've never met, but he invited me. It's publicity, I'm sure. Authors want to get their faces out there as much as possible, in every way possible. That's why I blog. That's one reason I facebook. Slowly, over time, your name gets out there.

I suppose actually getting stories published helps too.