Feeling "Linked-In" and Throwing Sheep

“You have to get onto ‘Linkedin,’” my friend, Sparky, urged.

“Why? What is it?” I asked.

“It’s like MySpace, but for professional networking.” That meant nothing to me.

Professional networking for me up to that point had involved chatting with live human beings. This all brought me back to a conversation I had with a friend in college. I told him I needed to buy a CD player (when such things were just coming into vogue). “Why?” he responded incredulously. “Do you have any CD’s?” And no, I didn’t have any CDs. This was the CD player all over again. Why on earth did I need to be on linkedin.com?

Social networking sites appear to be all the rage these days. I even noticed that Facebook sponsored the recent presidential debates. I eventually did sign up for linkedin.com, but have done little or nothing with it since then. The next wave of enthusiasm was for Facebook.

“You have to join Facebook so I can friend you,” Sparky said enthusiastically. LinkedIn apparently was an afterthought now. (And ‘friend’ is now a verb?)

“No, you have to see my Facebook page!”

I watched as Sparky pointed and clicked through a page with her list of friends, some identifying material and her list of friends. Apparently, the number of friends you have on Facebook was a status symbol of some kind. Facebook had originally been designed for college students; only recently had it expanded to highschool kids and beyond. Somewhat reluctantly, out of boredom really, I joined Facebook several weeks ago. Wading into Facebook world was strange to say the least. The software scans your address books to find friends and family on Facebook. I was soon connected with nieces and nephews, old roommates and even an ex-girlfriend.

“You see, you can throw a sheep at one of your friends!” said Sparky excitedly. “Wait, Mary has ‘chest-bumped’ me – I’m not even sure what that is.”

I suddenly found people sending me quizzes and throwing virtual snowballs at me. I took a quiz entitled “What Drink are You?” The response I got was “water.” Not the answer I was looking for. Then a colleague at work “friended” me unexpectedly. Facetiously, Sparky suggested that she rethink her decision. I was faced with the possible indignity of being “unfriended,” and I felt concerned, frankly. What were the implications of being virtually excised from a social network? I shuddered at the thought.

In the subsequent days and weeks, I have found myself visiting facebook from time to time. I still get a virtual drink sent to me occasionally, see some new photos posted, and I am even “friended” occasionally. That being said, I don’t really get it. At a New Year’s Eve party when a friend exclaimed she “hates” Facebook, I felt affirmed. Facebook is all about being connected in various professional, educational and social networks. I can see some value in that. But do I really need to know that my friends are playing “Scrabulous” or “Oregon Trail” or that someone has become a pretend ninja? If I stayed off Facebook would I become socially irrelevant? What does it even mean to develop an online persona?

Did I need to join Facebook? Am I on a slippery slope headed towards MySpace? Maybe something to think about -- but right now I have to throw a sheep at someone, even if I’m not quite sure what that even means…. I did buy a CD player, by the way. Still not sure I needed it. [Originally posted 1/7/2008]