Facebook: The Good, The Bad and Farmville

I've noticed there are two camps of people emerging in our brave new world, the camp that embraces Facebook and all of its virtual connectedness and the Haters that would rather drink a liver and raw egg smoothie, then play Mafia Wars or find a 2nd grade school mate.

At the risk of playing both sides,  I do see why FB is both loved and reviled by so many people. Farmville is a PERFECT example - either you love nurturing virtual farm animals and plants or you consider it a time-wasting, beg-fest that clutters up your live message feed.

To be perfectly honest,  I could care less about someone's virtual animal taking a crap, their virtual lucky number or their exhaustive search for virtual bistro tables for their virtual restaurant. Whenever I get a Facebook request from a particular sister about something she needs for her damn farm, I take the time to post in the comment section, "No!" and sometimes, "Hell, No!" if I'm feeling particularly cantankerous.  It's interesting that this nameless sister can shoot out Farmville and Restaurant requests, but can't seem to regularly call or email.  Yes, nameless sister, YOU know who you are!

The Farmville game seems to evoke the most angry reactions from non-players and business users on Facebook.  I have a friend that announced recently on Facebook, that he was "going to delete some of his FB connections...starting with Farmville people!"   If you've been on FB long enough and have enough friends, you know his frustration.

I'm not sure if the programmers of these Facebook games allow you to switch off your global updates to other Facebookers, but I suggest they figure out something pronto!  Maybe a better idea is to have a feed for non-game playing Facebookers that automatically ignores any Farmville, Mafia Wars or other game playing updates.  Hmmm...people might actually PAY MONEY for that service just out of sheer exasperation...interesting business model.

Hey, Facebook!  I'm giving you a new revenue stream here!!! 

The cooler aspects of Facebook involve business, fund raising and online participation for causes or other activities.  I'm currently the Facebook moderator for the Crown Jewel Club charity and we use FB to keep our fans and members aware of fund raising activities and the latest happenings with the charity.  We've doubled our fan membership over the past 6 months, which means more people are aware of us via Facebook.  Now for a shameless plug: CJC Facebook Page

Businesses, media, high-profile people and many others are reaping major financial rewards and client loyalty by setting up Facebook pages and Twitter accounts.  Businesses can announce new products or tell you about the latest happenings.  I belong to the Fairytale Brownie and Trader Joe FB pages to be in the "know."
I have personally chased down one of those cool new gourmet food trucks due to a Twitter update on where they were parked and set up that day.

It's a GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICH TRUCK, of course I'm going to chase it.

The most used aspect of FB is the fact that you can connect with old friends you've lost touch with from school or work.  Granted, you may not want to be found by some people, but you don't have to accept their friend requests or you can "unfriend" them if they start to annoy or stalk you...or play Farmville.

A plea from me to all Facebookers:

If you want to be a good FB user, make sure you actually write comments that people care about.  If I see another comment like, "I'm eating a pear" or "I need to pick up my dry cleaning"  I will lose it!  No one freakin' cares about your dry cleaning or your stupid pear.  Tell us something interesting or funny - I  don't care how late the garbage man was today - tell me where that grilled cheese truck is!!!

I also have noticed I've been getting a bit obsessive about checking FB on my iPhone.  FB messages are kind of addicting.  I check it as often as email and I'm thinking Facebook may land me in a 12 step group if I'm not careful.

I realize, there is sort of a natural age group that gravitates toward FB.  Most of the people that I know are women and men in their 30's and 40's, but of course that's my demo. The younger set is involved with it for fun, but don't seem to be taking advantage of it for business.  In the past, I thought my Dad might be interested in it, so I tried to explain Facebook.

Me: Facebook is a good way to connect with friends - including your kids - you can see what we are posting and what we are doing...you can join groups that you have an interest in too.

Dad: I don't have a plan for texting or twiting, so I don't think I can do that on my iPhone.

Me: Dad, it's not texting - it's just on the regular Internet - you don't pay for it, it's just a regular site.

Dad: I have email and Google, so I don't need to twit or Face...whatever...really.  

Well, apparently, Facebook may not be for everyone.

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