Gemma Cartwright writes...
I only signed up for facebook because a friend emailed me and said 'I can't believe you're not on facebook' in an accusatory way. Up until that point I was happy to leave the odd comedy message on my mates' MySpace pages and use good, old-fashioned forms of communication (you know, email and text) to keep in touch otherwise. But then I was hit by the bug. I discovered loads of old schoolfriends I'd not seen in years (despite the fact they all live in London now). Someone I knew from playgroup had set up a group especially for people who grew up in the same village as me (27 members and counting). And the moment I joined, friends started tagging me in old photographs (most of which were, strangely, taken in my parents' kitchen)...
Now that everyone is bastardising their MySpace pages with scrolling photobucket galleries, awful music and eye-popping backgrounds, logging onto facebook - with its simple blue and white layout and severe lack of customising options - is a welcome relief. It's very much a function-over-form site, though things are changing daily to help counteract that. If you're one of the few who've not yet succumbed, don't be put off on your first visit by how hard it can be to navigate. Your mates will soon show you the ropes.
The most interesting addition to facebook that you don't really see elsewhere is the timeline. There are lots of privacy levels on the site, but essentially the moment someone is your friend, they're also your stalker. Each time I sign in I'm greeted with news of what all my friends have been up to, from changes in their status (who needs twitter?) to news of who's been making friends with whom. It's like being back in high school...and not just because most of my facebook friends knew me when I was 13. You can delete events from your timeline, but where's the fun in that? Stalking people on Facebook is the reason it's so much fun (well, that and putting up embarassing photos of your mates and tagging their faces so they show up on their profiles for all their 'new' mates to see). There's even the option to 'poke' people (I'm not sure why, but it's fun). Hours can be wasted exploring all the strange quirks of the system. My housemate comes home each night knowing exactly how my day has been simply by how many facebook updates I've managed to do whilst at work (it was research, honest).
Ironically, this week Grazia magazine said 'so long' to Facebook (and we all know how I felt when they said the same to blogging). However, they're only slating it because it's ruling their lives and taking up valuable fashionista time...so I suppose this time I may have to agree with them! All this social networking can't be good for my health.
Gemma Cartwright is Shiny Media's Fashion Editor. It's only a matter of time before facebook is blocked on her work computer...
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My wife tends to never tell me when we have plans so at least now I find out that my wife has made arrangements to meet friends when they tell me on my wall or find that they are coming round to mine on their status !!!