Friendless on Facebook

With the jubilance of Queen’s “We Are the Champions” playing in my mind, I dipped my hosted onion ring into a tasty pool of ranch dressing. This was a moment to savor – collecting on a lunch bet from my long-time friend Tony. During our many history of pitting our baseball or football teams against one another, this was one of my few victories. My triumphant mood, though, was quickly erased like yesterday’s box scores. Replacing it — an awkward feelings of a skinny fifth grade girl standing on the volleyball court anxiously waiting to be picked.

The waitress had just refilled our ice teas when Tony said, “I looked you up on Facebook.” In between bites of his cheeseburger he added, “You have one friend.”

Choking down my last bit of onion ring, I hurried to explain that I’d joined to contact a friend I’d lost touch with. Outwardly I blamed Vicki, my one and only FB friend, for the embarrassment. Inwardly, those four simple words – you have one friend – sat on my stomach like an expanding weight, daring me to defend my popularity. Savvy Internet users thought my lifetime of experience yielded one lone friend. An off-the-cuff observation reduced me from a confident wife, mother and grandmother to an insecure ten-year-old whose happiness was measured by the width of her circle of friends.

I thought it was pretty amazing that I had any presence on this phenomenon of a social-networking site. I’d heard of Facebook. My sons, Shawn, Jake and Seth, a long time ago had MySpace pages, but until lunch that day, I never saw the value of getting involved. Tony’s cavalier comment had launched me, head first, into the intricacies of social networking.

For days I surfed the web, clicking, searching and tinkering my way through the online communities. Before I knew it, I was writing on Tony’s wall, re-tweeting posts on Twitter and uploading links. I also learned that the reasons people join these sites are as varied as the folks themselves. After sending out some friend requests and joining the SDSU alumni group, I couldn’t help but wonder if anyone else had hitched up to quell their elementary school ghosts.

In my urgency to prove that I was a likeable sort, I’d stumbled on an instantaneous way to stay connected. Years ago I swapped the daily workplace security for the freedoms of being a stay-at-home writer. With that change came the realization that I missed my coworkers and our daily impromptu discussions about last night’s episode of “Scandal” or what movie isn’t worth the twelve-bucks-plus-popcorn ticket. The chats about kids, cars and diets that I took for granted as part of my workday now come to me via an anytime cyberspace coffee break. I get status updates from my colleagues, my cousins and everyone else in between.  I’ve learned 25 Random Things about Fran, my godsister who lives about 3,000 miles from me; chuckled at the variety of Halloween costumes donned by friends and family, and — at Katie’s suggestion — watched a YouTube video sharing a recipe for Loaded Leftover Cups, just in time for that day after Thanksgiving.

Usually my posts are innocuous – a home decorating victory, a birthday photo, a book recommendation. Courtesy of my broadband connection, job changes, geography or jammed schedules aren’t hurdles to staying in touch with people who – in big or small ways — have enriched my life. They’re now a part of my day and I have a new place — and an avatar — in theirs.

At last check, my Facebook friends’ list had topped 300 and some 1,000+ follow @ClaireFlaire on Twitter. I’m LinkedIn. I have a blog Woman@Heart and author pages on sites like Amazon and Goodreads. Thank you Tony, my second FB friend! Who knew winning a hamburger could be so rewarding?
 

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