FaceBook (12 of 23 Things)

Okay, I created a Facebook account for my puppet and alter ego, Molly Kathleen. MK is forever four years old so I had to lie about her age in order to get an account. I friended only members of my family and those familiar with my other self. The process was relatively painless and I had fun coming up with MK's profile, but I am uncomfortable with the amount of personal information and images that people put into this and similar sites. I understand the friending process and the privacy controls and options are impressive; however the skeptic in me warns me that once it's online, it's online and retrievable.

I also found the site to be visually busy. Too busy. I realize the ads are their bread and butter, but it's like you have to weed through the different ads, all the thumbnail pictures and links to get to the real content. I'm sure with repeated use my eye would know where to look and it wouldn't feel so cumbersome.

This Thing fills the bill for keeping up with friends and family and could do away with "long lost" relationships, if you want to keep the multitudes up-to-date with your life. I've always thought the yearly Christmas letter fits the bill as well as being less intrusive. I think the younger set are more into the daily and hourly updates.

I enjoyed the article detailing the site's history. I feel much more enlightened about Facebook and wonder if it has proven itself as a money-making business, i.e. are the ads generating enough revenue. I, for one, never read the ads and find them a total distraction, but others might not.