So I realized recently that a good 90% of my news media consumption comes through Facebook. Oklahoma tornado, heard about it on Facebook. Boston bombing, heard about it on Facebook. Political controversies, I usually see them as a meme or an article link on Facebook. . . It occurred to me the other day that back in 2007 when I joined facebook, I did it primarily as a way to keep in touch with friends from the Philippines, and although that is probably still one of the main reasons I don't see myself giving it up soon, I compare that to how I view it now and realize a lot of my media consumption and communication has changed in the last 5+ years, and it's not all about Facebook and the news either.
5 years ago I still watched a fair amount of live tv. Today, besides the Olympics, I can probably count on one hand the number of instances where I've watched a live television program in the past two years. In fact a majority of my television consumption isn't even viewed on a tv. Online laptop viewing is my best friend. I couldn't even tell you what times some of my favorite shows aired, but I can tell you how long they're available for free on Hulu or their own broadcast network sites and which series are available on Netflix.
Before facebook if you'd have asked me how many "friends" I had, I'd have probably given you a number between 10 and 20, but according to facebook I have close to 500. Now I must say I am proud of the fact that there is only one person on there who I've never met in person, but let's face it, majority of these people probably wouldn't come to mind in a friends discussion and yet, I do still find pleasure in seeing pictures and posts by random people who I probably would never have kept in touch with otherwise. This is the double edged sword of Facebook I think, there are a lot of superficial connections, but there's some really valuable ones as well. Just last week, I posted a pic of myself in Atlanta for a work conference and ended up connecting with a friend who I'd lost touch with for dinner while I was there because she saw I was in town via Facebook. We had a really good time.
5 years ago I had a cell phone, but was just beginning to get into the texting game. I remember deciding to switch my phone to predictive texting and having to adjust to the new way of typing on my number pad. Now I've got an iphone and a blackberry that I usually carry with me (at least on work days). I am always connected it seems.
5 years ago a big part of Facebook for me was event invites and the singles social scene. Facebook events in my peer group were much more popular then and were used for just about everything. I still get invited to quite a few things via facebook and still value this piece of it, but I have developed a new pet peeve as a result. I absolutely hate it when people put up a "We're getting married and need your address" event or group. Sorry if you've done that and are offended reading this, but I think it's super tacky. (but I do hope we can still be friends, after all, I probably would still like a wedding invite, I just refuse to respond to the generic facebook call for addresses. Text me, call me, or just come up and ask me for my address and I'll gladly give it to you). I know it maybe sounds crazy and speaks to my psychology but I feel less like the awkward girl begging to be included if I know you actually want me to come and didn't just include me by default.
In any case, I'm realizing that the past several years have changed my communication and media consumption patterns, for better or for worse, the good, bad and the ugly, but nonetheless, I'm here and I'm navigating it, and much of the time see value in being connected this way. It's just interesting to really think about sometimes.
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