to fb or not

Kagabi lang nag-log on ulit ako sa FB to reactivate my account which I thought I would keep closed forever. Actually, sa kaka-open and close nitong account na to, mukha na syang krismas layt. And I think I really should decide this time whether I’ll keep it open or just drop it altogether bago pa magalit ang admin ng FB.

Dati kasi, isa yata ako sa mga kauna-unahang nag-open ng FB account long before it became a hit among the webbies. That was the time that Friendster was the biggest thing on the net. Na hindi ko rin ginawa kasi nga I wasn’t really into social networking. I was looking for something that suits my style, something more substantial (thank heavens Blogger came along).

Kaya nong narinig ko ang FB, sinubukan ko agad. But as soon as I saw that it’s just a modified, glorified and glamorized Friendster, I immediately dropped it out of my web radar. And completely forgot about it. Naalala ko lang when when my yahoo mail was starting to get flooded with add requests noong lahat halos ng contacts ko sa ym ay nag-FB na. Instead of getting connected, sinara ko si FB.

Then yesterday, I needed to find someone on line. Somebody na hindi ko alam ang cp number, ang email add at hindi ko rin alam kung nasaang lupalop ng Pinas. And there’s no easiest way but to Google her name. Ayun nga, may ilang account sya in various networking sites, the most accessible of which is FB.

Kaya napilitan akong i-activate na naman ang FB account ko. I’ve already sent that person a few messages. Sumagot na rin sya. (I won’t ever share it with you. Believe me, it’s unpleasant specially the ones coming from me.) And I think FB has served it’s purpose (at least this time). Now, I'm thinking of closing it again. But before doing that, a few questions popped up my mind.

Bakit nga ba ayaw kong mag-FB? May pakinabang naman like this instance na naka-establish ako ng communication with someone who would otherwise be difficult to get in touch with. What’s with FB ba that I don’t like? Don’t I get embarassed when people learn I don’t have FB and look at me like I’m a caveman? Worse, do I deserve being branded as anti-FB?

Unang-una, may pagka-anti-social yata ako. I’d rather be within the comfort of familiar faces of my small circle of friends and family. Hindi ako kumportable being surrounded by a whole lot of people na karamihan ay hindi ko kilala. And FB is pretty much like a huge party where you mingle with family and friends yet the largest part of it will be with absolute strangers.

It’s like an open-air concert at the MOA grounds where you see 75,000 faces you don’t even know. And even if these 75,000 strangers can’t talk to you unless you ‘add’ them as ‘friend’, they can still see you. Yon siguro ang issue ko. The thought of my privacy being under the scrutiny of thousands, millions, of prying eyes just doesn’t feel right.

Ganon pala eh bakit ka nagba-blog… you might ask. Well, I think the scrutiny is not the same. Sa blog kasi, it’s mostly written articles that's why it's my mind I'm exposing naked to everyone. Kung may pics man, it’s minimal compared to FB where you can post unlimited number of albums na pwedeng i-access anytime ng may mga very creative minds.

Sa blog, yong author lang (including whoever is linked to his site) ang pwedeng ma-expose sa attack whereas in FB, it’s like opening your directory of friends, relatives and important people in your lives to the whole, wide world. It’s just like giving out their addresses, telling their stories and letting everyone know things that should rather be kept between close relations.

Which leads me to my second reason – security. Nong lumabas yong issue na talagang maraming FB account ang naha-hack because of weak security, I felt a sense of vindication and affirmation that my decision not to jump in and join the craze was right. Instead of commiserating, I would whip Sabi ko na sa inyo eh… whenever I hear someone complaining about their FB being hacked.

But more than anything else, it’s probably the application that is my biggest issue. Wanna-be, frustrated journalist kuno ako kaya siguro mas gusto ko ang blog where I can write anything I want. It’s the idea of sharing ideas and creating a discussion out of it that inspires me. The least, yong pag-isipan ng kung sino mang nakabasa ang mga sinabi ko. I’d rather be provoking thoughts than getting silly and trivial with cutesie little pics.

Pero kung Public Relations officer siguro ako or somebody whose job requires getting in touch with as much people as possible, mas magugustuhan ko ang FB. Dahil dito talagang sosyalan ang laban. Attract as much connections as you can. Pagandahan ng wall. Pa-kyutan sa mga pic na pino-post. Show the world you’re a movie star waiting to be discovered. Never mind if the comments sometimes make me go 'huh?'.

In the end, I hope you'd agree with me when I say Blogging is cerebral, FB, visceral. It’s a matter of choice which every individual has the right to make. As for me, I still haven’t decided if I’d go and combine the two. Siguro, susubukan ko na lang and discover how many times will FB admin allow me to turn my account on and off without blowing the fuses off their tops!