I started reading blogs about two years ago. Actually, it was one person's blog and whoever commented on that one. I didn't search Blogger for any that might interest me. I didn't look for anybody I knew that might have a blog. I just checked in with a few people, every now and then. Last summer, my husband suggested I start a blog so I could share the beautiful places I run with other people that might be interested. I kept putting it off until finally, in the fall, I started this blog. And of course, it is one of the best things I have ever done for myself. I would say I spend a fair amount of my free time on Blogger, catching up on all the blogs I now read and keeping my blog up to date.
Then, in just the past week, I discovered Facebook. Evidently I signed up on this site some time ago, but had forgotten. I recently started receiving via email, invitations from people, to "be their friend". I just ignored them because, honestly, I had no idea how Facebook worked. Well, I figured out how it works! I now have over 50 "friends" and in the past week, I have spent many waking hours on it. At first I felt like I was invading people's privacy. I got over that in just a couple of days. Now, it's new and it's FUN. As someone said to me, "it takes stalking to a whole new level." I do seem to get a bit confused when I am communicating with people on Facebook that also have blogs. Why? Because when people blog, you know them by their blog name, not their real name. Even if you do know their real name from Blogger, chances are you don't know their last name. Believe it or not, some people don't use their real name on Blogger but they do on Facebook. Like if someone sees me at a race, they will say, "hey, aren't you Single Track Junkie?" They don't say, "hey, aren't you Jo Lynn?" Sometimes I have to stop and think about who it is that's commenting on my status update, or leaving one themselves. It can drive a girl crazy!
And then there's Twitter. I haven't even looked into this one. I know a lot of people use it though. I may be wrong about this, but to me, Twitter is just a mass text message to all your "peeps". I do use text messaging A LOT but it's just a conversation between me and the person I am sending text messages to. So, isn't this like Facebook where you can post status updates? Why do some people use both Facebook and Twitter? Yes, I am naive about it.
My question to you is: Which "time suck" do you like/use the most, and why?
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15 comments:
If it weren't for facebook, I wouldn't know what most of the people in my world are up to. I was a part of the first college students in on it, so it's been like a part of my life. Unfortunately, it's not as user friendly as it used to be, but whatev.
Reading blogs now is my biggest time suck though - it seems like I'm doing it all the time!
i am a FB whore, for sure. and i am on twitter but don't read any other people on twitter. i use twitter to update stuff on my blog. and my twitter is linked to FB. so whenever I TWEET, it sends the message to my blog and to FB. how geeky am I? :)
p.s. it's been fun FBing you this week.
People have all their own rules about FB, Blogs and Twitter.
But however you look at it it all a big timesuck! Problem is it is so addictive! Facebook can be a rabbit hole whereas Twitter is a ongoing time maze!
I like reading blogs - once or twice a day I try to catch up. It's more like a journal.
FB for me is hit and miss. Sometimes I check in a lot, sometimes I disappear.
and to answer your question, my biggest time suck is ebay!! LOL
my time waster is blogging, my wife's is facebook....
Has to be blogging, more specifically, my Google Reader.
I have Facebook but I don't do all the giving people stuff and games. It's not so much of a time suck for me. I'm still not on Twitter, and that's on purpose. I don't need one more thing I have to keep track of.
The only thing about Facebook is that it took me a while to get used to it. I would be on line on Facebook checking my messages and a guy from my distant past always wanted to chat. I would always log off. The guy creeped me out. He was almost stalkerish and made a couple of inappropriate comments, which I deleted. I'm OK with the yearly Christmas card from the family, but I want to leave it at that. I think he finally got the hint.
I love blogging because we all talk about an important subject. I don't have anything other - no FB or whatever. I merely think people use FB to collect people and tell themselves they have 500 friends. I rather invest that time caring about the few close friends I have and truly care about and actually "see" them. But that's just my opinion.
Far and away Google Reader is the biggest time suck for me... but I love it.
I think twitter is cool but I am not in the habit of updating it yet...
I kind of hate FB.... the applications are annoying, I don't enjoy that you have to log in to communicate.... it just doesn't sit well with me.
I've heard a lot about facebook, but never tried it. I wonder if there's a way to appear invisible to others while you're logged on. Because Irene's experience with that guy on facebook does sound a bit creepy.
have reconnected with a lot of old friends through FB, so I'm grateful for it... joined twitter, but i don't feel like i do anything exciting enough to be updating very often. i find most of my time is spent reading blogs though, but like you, love it... and best thing i could have done :)
Gotta work, exercise and read, so blogger is the only internet time sink - except for reading the news.
So facebook came out when I was in college, and at the time, it was only for college students. It was awesome! At first (and I guess you can still do this if you're in school) you could put in exactly what classes you were in (section #s and teachers and all) and you could see the profiles of everyone in your class...so it was the ULTIMATE stalker tool! See a cute guy in Bio? Facebook him right there to see if hes single or not! It was insane.
I still use facebook frequently (as RunningLaur said) its the only way I can keep up with people I dont live near. But I dont share my FB page with people I dont know "in real life" (for the most part) because it has my work info and other stuff on there. (Can never be too careful)
But I do love Twitter...I got into that once I started blogging and I love it! Once you get into it and start following people you will be hooked!
Blogging does take up a ton of time (thats why Ive been MIA recently) but when I have the time to do it I would say its the biggest time suck.
Facebook! Love it! I mean, it's really a big Bay Area trail running conversation... with some people from other parts of my life thrown in as well. And now YOU'RE there too!!! Yay!
Mafia Wars on FB for sure. But it's losing its appeal, and I may be able to devote a reasonable amount of time to it now.
I was on Twitter for a while but got off -- too much of a blatant time suck for me. (Yeah, as though a pretend mafia game isn't a time suck???)
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