This is a couple of weeks old now, but it didn’t get as much traction in the news as I expected. Isn’t it an absolutely astonishing historical landmark, that over one billion people are now voluntarily connected on a social networking site?
Yes, there are more people in China, in India and in the Catholic Church; but these ‘groupings’ (I can’t find a good generic term that covers a nation-state and the Catholic Church) have taken a few years to get going, and a large number of their members were born into them.
Facebook doubled it’s size from a half billion users to one billion in just three years and two months!
See this report by Jemima Kiss.
And watch this very clever promotional video, entitled “The Things that Connect Us”, directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, whose film credits include Amores Perros and 21 Grams. Notice the beautiful bridge images, very close to my blogging heart.
And remember Susan Maushart’s warning in her book The Winter of Our Disconnect (p6):
So… how connected, I found myself wondering, is connected enough? Like many other parents, I’d noticed that the more we seemed to communicate as individuals, the less we seemed to cohere as a family… I started considering a scenario E. M. Forster never anticipated: the possibility that the more we connect, the further we may drift, the more fragmented we may become.
Bridges and Tangents 
I find Facebook takes the guilt out of not actually visiting my relatives (because I Like their posts regularly) or sending Christmas cards to old aquaintainces (I just post “Happy Christmas Everyone”). It’s like a filing system for friendships that they update for you!
“So… how connected, I found myself wondering, is connected enough? Like many other parents, I’d noticed that the more we seemed to communicate as individuals, the less we seemed to cohere as a family… I started considering a scenario E. M. Forster never anticipated: the possibility that the more we connect, the further we may drift, the more fragmented we may become.”
(how connected, I found myself wondering, is connected enough?)
reminds me of the scriputre . Connecting apparently was not enough. They followed.
” Matthew 19:29 Jesus says “And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.”
p.s I liked the video a lot.
I found it was great for catching up with people I don’t see often and for sharing ideas with those of similar views and interests. I closed my account over a year ago because, no matter how stringent the security measures, I started having problems with hackers. Sad really because I enjoyed Facebook.
I hate Facebook
(except for business and keeping up with closest family and friends when you’re living abroad or something).
It’s the virtual friends thing i hate.
We should be able to see our friends. Touch them. Real friends. Not virtual friends. And not just tap into or use our friends when we’re feeling a bit bored, a bit empty or whatever. That’s the perfect time to pray, infused contemplation etc instead of turning to FB to fill the gap.