I just want to clear up some things about the Social Networking world known as Facebook.

Some people seem to be under the impression that Facebook is evil, or that you just stumble upon so many things that aren’t good. Or that by using Facebook, you are somehow forced to participate in some evil something or other and that you see all kinds of weird stuff.

Let me clear up these mis-conceptions. I really like Facebook. I think it is the best social network right now. And aside from the advertisements on the left side, which admittedly some are not that good, you don’t see anything you don’t choose to see on Facebook.

You see, Facebook is a social network. You see your friend’s updates, see and share photos with your friends, write on their “walls,” send and receive messages, etc. So, the content of Facebook is determined by those you are friends with on Facebook. No one can be friends with you unless you confirm them as friends. So, say I see my buddy on Facebook (whether I searched for him by name or email or whatever), so I tell Facebook to add him as a friend. Facebook asks him to confirm that we are friends. He can confirm or reject. So you have to have mutual consent to be friends with someone on Facebook. I have no doubt that there are bad people with bad profiles and bad photos on Facebook. However, I cannot confirm or deny this since I am not friends with anyone I don’t want to be. Hence the content and updates I see on Facebook is good.

Facebook is open to everyone, so yeah, there are going to be people on Facebook you don’t want to be friends with.

I really love Facebook and I’ll tell you why. For me, it’s all about the status updates (a status update is when you simply type a couple lines about what you are up to). I love being able to see what my friends are up to, especially the ones that are 450 miles away. People that I used to feel disconnected from. And the status updates are cool because I have Facebook on my iPhone and I can quickly type a couple words about what I’m up to and keep right on going. There are lots of folks from my former church on Facebook that I’m able to stay connected with through Facebook.

So, to summarize… Facebook is not evil, bad, wicked, or any such thing. Clear?

Cool!

Over and Out.