Social Networking in my life

I thought that having a blog and five different email addresses was enough social networking in my very busy life.  I then added four newsreaders for my RSS subscriptions and went into overload.  No more, I swore to myself!!  My Flickr page has well over a thousand photos and videos on it, and my del.icio.us page has hundreds of tags.  I follow over 50 folks on Twitter.  I was determined not to take on any more. 

 Then I discovered that I was required to create an account on Facebook if I wanted to put up a page for the Library.  What harm could one little personal page do?  Facebook has slowly sucked me into its pages just like Dove chocolate beckons to me.  I couldn’t imagine what appeal it would have to a “mature” librarian.  At first, I think the student pages at work felt sorry for me and added me as friends.  Then I found myself connecting with a younger generation of librarians that I either currently work with or have had as professional interns when they were working on their degrees.  So far, so good.  Slowly but surely, older friends from church and past classmates asked to be part of my network.  Suddenly it was becoming very addictive to check every day to see what was happening online. 

Today, I totally hit the Facebook jackpot!  I’ve always wished I had a larger family.  Both my mother and brother are gone and my father is my only remaining blood relative.  I have a few cousins close to me in age, but none are in the state.  Most I haven’t seen in many years.  Wonder of wonders, each time I checked Facebook today, another cousin had asked to be my friend.  I have now ended up with five cousins – from both sides of my family -  in touch with me through social networking on Facebook.  Two of them I’ve never met in person and two I haven’t seen in almost ten years.  The 5th one I saw over two years ago for only a few hours at my son’s wedding in San Diego.  I feel like Facebook has given me a chance to establish new relationships with my extended family members.  Each of them was able to see photos of my sons’ weddings, my beloved granddaughter and the recent med school graduation.  I have no idea how much additional time I’ll be spending on this site, but I suspect it will be well worth it.  For those who say social networking is only for young people, I’d beg to differ with them.  To me, it’s a way to stay in touch with old and new friends & family as we enter a stage in our lives when financial or physical limitations may keep us from visiting each other in person.  I can’t wait to see who will show up next, asking if I will be their friend!