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Advantage of Facebook over email / texting: - Facebook shows me updates about friends that I wouldn't otherwise know about. These updates provide an opportunit

Advantage of Facebook over email / texting: - Facebook shows me updates about friends that I wouldn't otherwise know about. These updates provide an opportunity for a quick connect that is appropriately shallow, just enough to keep the relationship warm. - For many people I have their FB, but not their email, let alone their phone number. I discover these people through FB's mutual friend suggestion. These people can be those I met briefly at parties, friends in primary school, etc. - A public exchange on FB allows others to jump in and converse. An email is confined to the intended recipients.

glenda 9y ago
These all sound like they could be disadvantages to another person.
- noobhacker 9y ago
  I recognize that while typing out my comments. It seems like there are two archetypes of people: 1. Those who have a close circle of friends that don't change much over time. For these people, phone / email work great because they have a lot more depth. 2. Those who have a large circle of acquaintances that is dynamic (i.e. relationship strength changes over time, new acquaintances appear through FB suggestions). For these people, Facebook is the only way to keep connected, admittedly with little depth. Everyone is a mix of these two archetypes. I have friends that I call, and also acquaintances that I chat up via Facebook.
spyhi 9y ago
> Facebook shows me updates about friends that I wouldn't otherwise know about. Adding to this, text messaging and emailing and deliberate and specific, which means someone has to think to include you. It takes work to figure all that out--it is an active decision to communicate instead of a passive broadcast about something general that invites people to participate. It's very easy, and a good way to keep relationships warm and to make room for serendipity. I don't know about you, but I really dislike things like personal newsletters and text messages/emails just to strike up any conversation, probably because at any given time I'm probably pretty busy, and being present requires both thought and time. On the other hand, when I share something on social media, it means I'm pretty much willing to engage with all comers, or if I see you've updated on social media, I'll assume the same. Secondly, if you're that random friend that insists on only communicating via text message or email or some weird idiosyncratic way that applies only to you, I'm probably going to leave you out of a lot of stuff, even if I like you, because I have limited brainpower and I'm going to forget when I'm managing 15-20 people on a social channel and trying to update you out in the wilderness. Lastly, email and text really, really suck for discussing topics in large groups, so if I send a link I want to talk about to a bunch of friends, I have the choice of managing 15 individual conversations (with lots of repetition), or managing an incredible amount of chaos. So yeah, IMHO social media has definitely solidified a place in the communication stack.

glenda 9y ago

These all sound like they could be disadvantages to another person.

noobhacker 9y ago
I recognize that while typing out my comments. It seems like there are two archetypes of people: 1. Those who have a close circle of friends that don't change much over time. For these people, phone / email work great because they have a lot more depth. 2. Those who have a large circle of acquaintances that is dynamic (i.e. relationship strength changes over time, new acquaintances appear through FB suggestions). For these people, Facebook is the only way to keep connected, admittedly with little depth. Everyone is a mix of these two archetypes. I have friends that I call, and also acquaintances that I chat up via Facebook.

spyhi 9y ago

> Facebook shows me updates about friends that I wouldn't otherwise know about. Adding to this, text messaging and emailing and deliberate and specific, which means someone has to think to include you. It takes work to figure all that out--it is an active decision to communicate instead of a passive broadcast about something general that invites people to participate. It's very easy, and a good way to keep relationships warm and to make room for serendipity. I don't know about you, but I really dislike things like personal newsletters and text messages/emails just to strike up any conversation, probably because at any given time I'm probably pretty busy, and being present requires both thought and time. On the other hand, when I share something on social media, it means I'm pretty much willing to engage with all comers, or if I see you've updated on social media, I'll assume the same. Secondly, if you're that random friend that insists on only communicating via text message or email or some weird idiosyncratic way that applies only to you, I'm probably going to leave you out of a lot of stuff, even if I like you, because I have limited brainpower and I'm going to forget when I'm managing 15-20 people on a social channel and trying to update you out in the wilderness. Lastly, email and text really, really suck for discussing topics in large groups, so if I send a link I want to talk about to a bunch of friends, I have the choice of managing 15 individual conversations (with lots of repetition), or managing an incredible amount of chaos. So yeah, IMHO social media has definitely solidified a place in the communication stack.