I finally got my own facebook page. I have yet to put my picture on it. Most people I befriend know what I look like anyway.
One feature that I find crazy making is that little comment that comes up when people are too lazy to respond to a comment or picture: “Like”. Why do they do that? Does it make facebookers feel better when they post something and a dozen people, half of whom total strangers, say they like what you said? I suspect there are lots of people out there who did not like what you said but “Don’t like” is not an option.
When I follow some of the “threads”, I see the kind of conversations we might with friends and relatives when we have been together for way to long. It is time to go home. If we are wise, we do go home. But of course, this is Facebook. We already are home. That can be an advantage when conversations turn to dust. You can just stop pressing buttons or clicking your mouse. Noone wonders why you are walking away or if you are just sitting there staring in disbelief. They don’t have see the nonverbal signs of boredom.
In a real life situation, when conversations start to lag like these threads, it sometimes means there are things not being said. For example, people may refrain from sharing feelings and insights because we are afraid to offend or to start a battle. When it comes to Facebook, we may decide that our thoughts are too personal to blast all over the internet. I like to think that when a thread goes to bla-bla land and then stops, it is because someone decided go to the phone to call their friend who might just need to hear a human voice.