Such is the Mystery

...the mystery of why I Just.Don't.Blog anymore. Well it's partly laziness (of course) - this *is* Yours Truly we're talking about. But I think it's mostly the insidious Facebook to blame.

And ex-Facebookers probably blame Twitter for no longer Facebooking.

But how do these conclusions possibly make sense? After all, Twitterites are well-aware they're limited to 160 characters, necessitating short, sharp, concise, to-the-point tweets. This should cut out all the filler material and make Twitter-viewing far more information-rich and enjoyable when it comes to keeping up with friends (at least in theory).

Somehow, Twitter has done the opposite for most people I follow. For every one person who posts "Baby Benson arrived this morning, mum & baby healthy, more info soon!", I seem to get hundreds who do nothing but tell me about expeditions to the corner shop to buy milk and bread. I think it's because they expect 160 characters to be too short to be meaningful; and so they've given up completely on quality, and just post day-to-day drivel. It spreads by peer pressure. When all your friends post garbage, why not get into the swing of things with garbage of your own?

So but anyhoo, I was thinking about Facebook. And I realised that quite often these days, I post in Facebook things that previously would have gone into a blog. Opportunity is the biggest part. Facebook is there, I have it open anyway to see what my friends are up to, and it's easy. Couple that with social interaction and instant gratification - I get dizzily excited seeing who has "like"d my posts today - and it's a gimme. Blogging just doesn't provide that kind of feedback. I'm not left to wonder if someone, ANYONE has read what I typed.

But it must be acknowledged that like Twitter, there are space limitations. Posts can only be so long. People will only read so many "replies" where you try to jam in more rambling parts of your update. There are apps and addons to enable bigger posts (Notes being the main one), but they're in the "too hard" basket for many people to bother reading, and it's a clunky and inelegant Facebook addition.

When it comes to quality for blogging, Facebook just doesn't cut it. Blogs do.

So in my heart of hearts I know full well that I'm pumping out drivel in Facebook. But it's easy. It's just a little sad that it partly satiates my desire to write, actually write. Sadder still if my writing "skill" becomes an unused muscle which slowly begins to waste away.

The Seven-Legged Spider

If you, like me, enjoy a good clever chain email filled with wit, you'll have heard the story of the seven-legged spider. (Yes, yes, I recognise the paradox in that sentence: deal with it.)

If you haven't heard the story, read this page and then come back here.

I've been spending many an hour of late perusing the other articles on that site. I could wax lyrical on the sheer genius that is David Thorne. I could waste valuable time patting the heads of the righteously indignant, reassuring them that he only has an audience because people like them throw tantrums.* But I won't, because those people prefer tantrums to paying attention to wisdom, and that's eleventy bajillion minutes of my life that I'll never get back.

So in leiu of such a panacea, I have redeemed myself by inviting more than a thousand people to the birthday party of a complete stranger (a friend of a friend) who publically listed her birthday drinks on Facebook.




* I SO wanted to write "tanties" there, because thowing a tanty is infinitely more tough than throwing a tantrum, but for those who didn't understand what a tanty is, the graceful flow of my repartee would have been irrevocably lost.

Rant: Facebook & Causes

I've just been invited to the umpteenth good cause on Facebook.

Ordinarily, these things either send me to sleep or make me see red. In this case however, I was too busy giggling. Apparently there's now a wizard of some sort to make these things. It includes a place to automagically show how much has been raised so far. Dynamic and stuff for the win.

This cause (while actually being a worthwhile cause, I might add) had gathered more than 10,000 members. 10,000 Facebook 'players' who all thought that this... this... topic... was important, and righteous, and worth getting indignantly angry over, or passionate about, or worth going forth with pitchforks and holy fire over. 10,000 people who thought they were making change by banding together with fellow-couch-potatoes who had an interest in the same issue. I won't mention the cause by name, just to protect its poor, sad little existence from suffering further embarrassment. But...

This worthwhile cause had generated $0 so far.

I believe this is a worthwhile illustration and would teach Facebook 'players' quite a lot, if only they were willing to use their brains before using their index fingers on the JOIN NOW button.

Parents, tell your children! etc. Hammering a button on a website does nothing to cure cancer. Visiting a forum won't reduce the amount of pesticides in your food. Playing the free Red Ribbon game will not earn a cent in HIV research money. Clicking on "Like!" won't make more kidneys available for transplant. Joining another Facebook cause won't stop the next kid being abused.

INTERACTION makes things happen. Start a discussion with a friend. Donate. Wear the ribbon. Buy the fridge magnet. Sponsor a kid. Send a goat.