blogger interrupted

I joined Facebook less than a month ago.  Late to the party, I know but MySpace creeped me out, and made me a little wary of social networking sites as a rule.  But last month I was kinda forced to join both for blogging purposes, and have since come to love Facebook.  (MySpace still creeps me out – I never use it.)

I now have 236 Facebook friends, which seems like a lot in such a short time, but Facebook makes it real easy to find the hundreds of people I used to cavort with, all over the world.  I’ve gathered up old Labour Party contacts in the UK, old Clinton Gore contacts from WAY back, and a bunch of new blogger friends.  Oddly, I can’t find too many of my high school friends.

My NDI collection of friends is up to 9, but was more, before NDI people came to my blog and got freaked out.  I don’t know what the etiquette is for de-friending someone on Facebook, but I would imagine it deserves at least a little note.  As it is, my NDI friends come and go more than others on Facebook.  I had one Clinton Gore contact de-friend me after the I-Just-Read-Russo’s-About-Page freakout, and he did it after telling me, so I guess that was better.  Didn’t make me feel any better, though.

I’ve had some fun with the applications, even created a Gaydar calibrator – hint, mine is GPS quality – and have learned that the Historical Figure I most resemble is Leonardo Da Vinci (agreed), the musical instrument I most resemble is a saxophone (o…k….) and the movie star I most resemble was Whoopie Goldberg – I immediately removed that one from my profile.

One of my favorite apps is the “Cities I’ve Visited” map, which has reminded me just what a vagabond I’ve been.  Been all over this great big world – I’m on my third passport.

I’ve also found that some big name media types do actually Facebook, and some do it themselves.  Chatted with CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin once, just to ask if it was really him or his assistant – I’m pretty sure Rachel Maddow and Bob Woodward didn’t friend me themselves – Toobin was there, and said it was him.  That was pretty cool.

I’m looking forward to more Facebooking in the future.  Mostly, it’s just fun.  Professionally, re-linking with all these people all over the world may yield something tangible someday, but at the moment, I’m just happy with my 236 friends from every corner of the globe.  It’s pretty damn cool.