Photo Lineup...also known as FaceBook

How long have you been using FaceBook?

Just yesterday, it occurred to me that I remember FaceBook as being touted as a social networking site for college kids! I didn't even go there, because I instantly got an "Animal House" image in my mind's eye of what might be going on. I imagined that they were using a new language that I would not understand and posting pictures of the latest all-night keg party. In other words, what business would I have on a college social networking site?

Then I spent a year in Afghanistan and was introduced to the site by others in a similar predicament, how to best communicate with friends and loved ones from a third world country in the middle of an insurgency? Email was starting to feel like snail mail did when I lived and worked on Okinawa back in the seventies. Something was just lacking.

So, I jumped on FaceBook and never looked back. It has taken me a while to grow accustomed to all of the ins and outs of how to use a social networking site. I made my share of rookie mistakes. I have gone through periods of adding people to my friends list and later regretting it and "un-friending" them. How embarrassing is that?

Of course, Facebook is full of cutesy applications (they are called "apps") that allow you to send hearts and hugs and kisses to all your special friends. As my wife says, if you really wanted to say something nice and really care about that person, why don't you send them a personal note instead? A personal note means something! I'm not sure what it means when someone sends me a cupcake. I can't figure out how to eat it.

Then there are all the games you can play and annoy your friends by sending updates on your progress to some undefined goal. Yes, I played Mafia Wars, after resisting it for about a year and a half. It didn't take that long to figure out that I don't know what the goal is. As far as I can tell, the goal is to keep doing it from now on. It is maddeningly addictive! Then I began to realize how much time I wasted playing a game with no point, no goal, and no end. (I also picked up a number of "mafia" friends along the way. Good grief!)

I have actually "un-friended" people just because I got tired of getting their cutesy updates. Someone slopped the hogs, someone else cleaned all the poop out of their badly neglected virtual aquarium, and another iced underworld crime bosses! I guess it means that Boss Hog now sleeps with the fish. And, of course, I wonder how many people "un-friended" me while I rose to mafia fame and fortune?

So, you might be wondering, then why am I still on FaceBook? That is a legitimate question. I am not a college student, I am not into cutesy, and I am not an avid mindless game player. So, what's in it for me? Why do I continue? I can think of three interesting, maybe even compelling reasons.

Reason One

Over the years I have made friends from literally all over the United States and the World. We stay in touch through Facebook. While at the FBI National Academy in Virginia, I became very good friends with my roommate from Lithuania. Rinas and I spent a lot of time together, and I hate to say it, but it was hard to part when our Academy ended. I knew that I might not ever see him again. We stayed in touch by email, and suddenly, his email account went dead. He got a new assignment, moved to a new town, and something happened. I wish I could locate him again, but so far, after many years, I have not been able to re-establish contact with Rinas.

If we had been using Facebook back then, I could probably still find him. I remember a time when people would obtain new email addresses just to stay one jump ahead of the SPAM. Usually, although not always, they would send an announcement on their old email address to herald their jump to light speed away from SPAM and to ask all of their friends to update to the new email address. However, sometimes I forgot to do that, they forgot to do that, or we had just grown apart and neither of us bothered.

On Facebook, there is a certain degree of stability and continuity that helps one maintain important contacts with friends, family, and associates. It is a good tool.

Reason Two

Being the product of a nuclear family (meaning that at some point someone split the atom and broke up the family unit) it has helped me find people. After forty-five years of having completely lost touch with one side of my original family, one of those family members found me on FaceBook. All most overnight, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. began to send friend requests and connect with me on FaceBook. I have lost count of the number of times someone has said, "I remember Mom and Dad talking about you, but we didn't know what happened to you."

It was a most humbling experience (and continues to be humbling) to make contact one by one with all of these long lost relatives. I have enjoyed viewing their pictures and learning about their lives. This family stretches from San Diego, Ca. to Kissimmee, Fl.

Even though I have not seen many of these relatives since I was five years old, I remember many of them. I remember houses and places and people. I remember kindnesses and family. It has been a gratifying and sometimes emotional journey as I renew these family connections. It probably would not have happened without FaceBook. Again, FaceBook is a good tool.

Reason Three

Having grown up in West Texas, I am profoundly aware of what I did not, and in some cases, still do not know about the world around me. As a kid, I can only remember sparrows in the trees. I do not remember seeing any other bird. I think the day came when I just stopped looking.

Driving outside of the city, I only saw mesquite and weeds. It was somewhat green in the Spring, and grey/brown the rest of the year. I had the impression that about the only wild life outside the city limits was rattlesnakes, rabbits, and coyotes. I also had the impression that wildlife only existed in exotic places like Colorado, Louisiana, and Alaska.

Having become involved with Burr Williams, the Executive Director of the Sibley Nature Center in Midland, Texas, I began to see, through his efforts, the value of FaceBook for research, education, and sharing with adult learners. This year, I was elected the President of the Llano Estacado Chapter of Texas Master Naturalists , and it became my dream to see our Chapter with a presence on FaceBook. It is one thing to have a web page, but quite another to have a real-time dynamic presence in cyberworld! So, the Llano Estacado Chapter now has a page on FaceBook!

As you have probably noticed, I learned how to turn words into hyperlinks that will take you to some of the features I am describing. I encourage everyone to become a fan of our FaceBook page and to visit the other websites. I am tickled pink at the results in only a little over a month for our FaceBook page. It is meeting my expectations and growing all the time!

As part of this effort, I have spent time daily working on smoothing out the rough spots as our page grows. There are limitations to what FaceBook offers, but I am more than willing to work within those limitations to get our efforts off the drawing board and in front of anyone who wants to explore. For me, this is exciting!

Of course, I am learning new things all the time. This blog, for instance, was actually inspired by the blog of Dr. Susan Tomlinson, Texas Tech University. Her blog, The Bike Garden, is amazing! I am not even in her league. That doesn't matter (since it isn't a contest) though, because it inspired me to come here and explore another way of communicating passions with my fellow explorers and learners.

Just today, through this blog, I have shared links to other worlds with you. If only one person follows a link to something new that enriches his/her life, then it was worth every word I typed today!

Wow! We live in an amazing time, FaceBook, webpages, blogs, and who knows what is next? Surf on my friends, there is still time to catch the next good wave!