1 Week of Facebook: Intro

Well, after much prodding, I've joined what I hear is the current decade.  I have a Facebook account. 

Now, for some of you that's no big thing.  But, as I said, it took some prodding.  You see, I'm skeptical as to whether the whole thing is worthwhile.  I'll go one further.  I'm skeptical as to whether Facebook will be of any real benefit, much less benefit that outweighs the cost.  Let me bring you up to speed.

You see, I work with a group of teens.  (Specifically, the high school guys small group at my church.)  For a long time, they've claimed having a Facebook account would not only allow, but actually create out of thin air, better communication with them.  Well, recently our youth group underwent some changes.  The change that sparked this whole Facebook brouhaha was that our small group would no longer meet at the same time and place.  So, being the organized fellow I am (nearly a complete lie), I sent out a trusty email to the group offering up a couple times we could potentially meet and asking they each reply as to their availability at those times.  The email went out to 7 guys.  A week later only two responded.  Facebook it was.  

So, I decided to join Facebook.  I'm quite skeptical.  This blog will cover one week of my using Facebook.  If, after that week, I find that the benefits it gives do not outweigh the time I invest using it compared to other communication methods, I'll can it.  I'm going to do my best to weigh benefits on a point scale.  This may prove difficult, but I can think of no better way to measure usefulness.  Plus, since it's my little test, I get to assign value willy-nilly as I go.  


Prologue:
I'm not new to computer technology.  Nor the Internet and World Wide Web.  That I know how those two are different should say something.  And, the fact that I know why it's humorous to say Al Gore invented. . .  Nevermind.

Email?  I had it in high school.  (For those of you just who need some catching-up, that would be 1995-1999.)  Early in that timeframe, my family obtained our first computer.   (Yes, people lived without them for a very long time before the 90s).  Internet access via 14.4 modem followed.  Skipping ahead a few years, I studied New Media in college.  To break it down, I studied communication theory and media production.  I mixed English, communication theory, video production, digital music, web, graphic design, photography and a bit of everything else and came out with a degree.  So, though I'm no expert. . . Oh, wait, this is the WWW.  So, since I'm a doctor who knows the czar of a frightfully small yet terribly rich small island country who needs your bank account to pass along a fortune they need to vanish. . .