So in a sense, facebook works for me. I can suss out the people, and there are some that are worthwhile creating face to face friendships with and others where being connected simply via the internet is enough contact.

But… who doesn’t love Inzy?

You’re clearly a far more social person than I am. I cross the road to avoid running into old “friends”. I would hate to have to switch off my computer to achieve same!

There doesn’t seem to be much of a link between how strong your friendship was then and how it behaves now. A few people who I knew as recently as ten years ago and I was quite close at the time have rejected my attempts at getting back in touch. And yet, others who I haven’t seen since leaving school and university have become quite good friends – there was even one person who I didn’t get along with that well at school, and who we’re now catching up with for the third time in a period of a few months.

But like any other technology, it comes down to how you use it. I’m thankful that the plague of quizzes is gone, although as someone else said, it’s now replaced by a plague of the most obscure groups you can become a fan of. But along with facebook’s habit of changing their format every six months, it’s a small irritation that I can deal with.

@Daniel and @Ceridwen
I understand what you say about Facebook offering the opportunities for a different kind of connection to what Twitter does. I guess in my case FB was keeping in touch with existing friends and… I keep in touch with them in other ways. It was the blasts-from-the-pasts that did me in!

@reality raver
It’s hard NOT to lose track of time when online! Sometimes it’s good time-suck, but sometimes it’s jeezus-is-that-the-time-what’s-for-dinner… to which the answer is most likely wet rice. It’s like an even easier paella – will bring the recipe to Syd!

@Ceridwen (again!)
I’m trying to be more disciplined with posting, since there have been times when I’ve pretty much left my blog for dead. I take inspiration from @Jess, who successfully completed NaBloPoMo – a post a day for a whole month. Sometimes it feels as though I’m just exercising my typing fingers but it does feel good to hit “publish”! Your blog is far more focussed than mine – and I’ve been getting inspiration for reading AND food from you. Two of my favourite things!

Thanks, all of you, for your comments! That helps with the motivation to post, too…

I’m still trying to be optimistic about the future in terms of government, but I have to agree with you Injera, that it is so frustrating that those with the responsibility to lead don’t/won’t. It’s is like some kind of conservative hangover that keeps any real, positive change from happening. We’re screaming for it yet we’re stuck. Climate Change, Same Sex Marriage and Immigration policy/discussion has been frustrating and disappointing to follow as well when there just doesn’t seem to be any progress being made. I have my doubts that 2010 will bring about any change either. But I still hope!

As for Twitter v Facebook, I’m new to Twitter and enjoy it and now that I have found the ‘hide’ function on Facebook, I enjoy using it much more. Especially as I’m home so much now being a mum, I find that it (FB) keeps me in touch with people. I have been thinking lately, however, that at times I’m not sure if social media makes me feel less or more isolated. Sometimes I think it gives me greater anxiety as there is another group that I’m not quite in, have I pissed that person off by making that comment, I don’t really have many followers on Twitter, I’m not that witty, I’m not really engaging in the world rather just here at my computer bangin’ on…if that makes sense. I get the feeling that people think you’re a bit of a loser if you’re constantly updating your status on FB and that people find it annoying if you do so it can be difficult to have a fluid conversation. But mostly, I believe that there are really interesting communities to be found using both Twitter and FB…if you work at it!

As for pants, YES! For fucks sake! Put pants on people!!

Food issues seem to work better on twitter. The format suits it – short messages and the ability to link to pictures – and it works exceptionally well when people go to dinner and post pictures of what they eat. Following parliament also works on twitter, as anyone who has followed Annabel Crabb’s QT tweets will confirm.

Music discussion suits facebook. There is one person on my facebook who will post a series of video clips in the late evening – it’s like waking up to your own mini edition of Rage.

I like your little summary of your year, great way to keep a record of it without having to keep a journal. the Wet rice and chicken sounds delicious.

Happy New Year.
.-= reality raver´s last blog ..Happy New Year And Reality TV For The Beginning of 2010 =-.

For me, the differing strengths and weaknesses of facebook and twitter were shown up during the Turnbull vs Abbott fight in the Liberal Party. In terms of being able to have in-depth discussions on the issue, facebook was stronger with it’s ability to link articles and then discuss them. However, in terms of getting news quickly, twitter was superior.

Facebook redid their layout not long ago, and since then it seems people have been doing far fewer quizzes. Now it’s all about joining funny groups, or becoming a fan of funny pages. But yeah, I do think I end up using Twitter more. I signed up for it in 2007 (as I recall, so I could document my trip to Perth by sending texts!) but only really began using it this winter. More addictive than Facebook, with no ads!

Haha, oh yes, music videos. I don’t watch them so I happily get to miss out on all that stuff. The purely auditory stimulus of the radio is enough for me!