I think I know where I’m at for now with Facebook.
Kevin mentioned, “The thing with Facebook is that it’s very “here and now.” If I post something I’m working on this week to a group, it’s largely going to be gone and forgotten next week.” and also Eric said, “For realtime railfanning (reporting movements, etc.), there’s no substitute. I have caught a lot of interesting moves thanks to realtime reporting from other railfans.” Chris mentioned this too, “I have always been of the opinion that Facebook is a “right now” means of communication. (As in, here is the snow I plowed today) Forums such as LSC are long term means.” I found this out the hard way. I was looking for a dog food recommendation on the Saint Bernard forum and because the discussion happened a few days ago, well, that’s it, unless you want to spend a lot of time sifting your way back in time. So that’s a critical drawback for me. (I guess you could screen capture whatever you think might be useful later.) I asked my youngest son about this and he said, “Yeah, that’s all social media.” Boom.
Kevin mentioned the solution to this is “I think to use Facebook as a tool for long-term projects, you’d be well served to start a facebook page for your railroad itself,…” but honest to God and for pete’s sake I have a lot of time invested in my railroad website and I can’t keep it up to date let alone another freaking page.
Rocky and a couple of others mentioned that, "To avoid the political garbage, I unfollowed everyone I personally know or that I am related. I have never regreted it for one second."And, really, I get that. If I’m not making Facebook or any of the other social media a way of life, I have no intention of following or being followed or friending or not friending anyone.
Vic has an approach kind of along the lines I’m thinking, “Sorry but as long as you avoid the political stuff, it DOES have its draws, but you do need to focus on your interests and nothing else.” So maybe I’ll check in once in a while and drool over some of the spectacular modelling achievements. If Al P. wants the list Facebook decided I could be interested in (!) I can post it here. But I can see like Craig said, “So you can see how I find this useful. For example, I’ve already seen more photos of a specific type of boxcar on the 1970’s page that I’ve been able to find through a Google search.”
But really between railroad and railroad research websites and the most amazing invention in the history of humankind since the invention of the printing press, Youtube!!!, I have enough inspiration on the internet to last more than a lifetime. For me, I guess it comes down to liking that Facebook is a resource but I’m not using it unless I need to.
Here’s the thing, many people I know, and apparently a lot guys here, use Facebook to connect with family, like Ken who keeps up with his service buddies. Like Steve said, “I think Kevin and Chris have IMO given the best answers to the question. I have family, friends and train friends all on my friends list and it’s nice to hear what else is going on in their lives other than trains sometimes.” I think that’s wonderful and whatever helps a family communicate is a good thing. I guess it’s just not for me.
The comment that fascinates me most is from Sophie Boone: “I check Facebook once a day to find out what family and a few very close friends are up to. My 86 year old mother has more “friends” than I do . My daughter thinks that “pictures of the grandkids” are something that is snapped on her cell phone and shared on Facebook. Since my family is spread across the country we don’t get to actually see each other all that often. As I personally think that the telephone is evil and I hate using it, FB ends up being a good medium to keep up with each other.”
That “I personally think that the telephone is evil and I hate using it” just cracked me up! Other than email, I consciously decided long time ago that if anyone want to communicate with me, they can come, sit down, and talk to me, or they can call me up on the telephone. All my friends, family, and even people who really don’t like me, know that about me and accepted it long time ago. Still, I never heard anyone come out and say the telephone is evil! Ha!
Maynard struck a chord with me, “…I can see where any form of communication can be an asset, or a liability, depending on how its used. So if its an asset to you, go ahead and use it. If it becomes a liability, then turn it off.” A clear liability would be, like several expressed, more time on the internet makes less available time for the layout and modelling. I know Radder is kidding, but I admire his take, and sheepishly admit it applies to me a lot of the time, “I obviously have a problem with net usage in general.” That’s the looking into the black hole feeling I started this conversation out with.
I don’t know how much of this made any sense, but, with that, having spent twenty minutes writing out my thoughts here (and by the way thanks to everyone for your input), I better get my butt back to work!
