Facebook can be a lot of work
Published 12:51 am Wednesday, August 26, 2009
I guess I need to jump on the Facebook bandwagon.
I’m starting to feel left out.
I hear comments all the time about “Did you see this?” or “Did you hear that?”
Most of the time my answer is “no.”
Why not, one might ask?
I mean I’m supposed to be one of those people who is connected, plugged in, or whatever other kind of adjective you can think of — one of those people who’re supposed to know the who, what, when and why of Covington County happenings.
Alas, I don’t — at least not to the degree as some of my county counterparts.
And it’s all because I don’t Facebook.
As a reporter, I realize that we must adapt to these changing times and embrace the technological age. I mean I do use e-mail, but the last time I checked, reporting involved “face time” or at least on-the-phone time — and occasionally, the aforementioned e-mail.
Now we’re getting updates on how sports teams are working practices and news tips from the comments section.
The other day, I had a friend send me a message that I should “FB.”
At The Star-News, the biggest topic of discussion for the last several weeks has been the recently released football magazine. So, when she said “FB,” I immediately thought, “When did fullback become a verb?”
I realized then I needed help. I needed to join the technological age.
So, you know what I did? I bought a BlackBerry.
And you know what that did? It multiplied my problem times two.
Here I was thinking I was smart. I could get work e-mails when out of the office; post breaking news to the Web site without even having to be in the office and save money on my phone bill all at the same time. It was going to be great.
I should have known I was in trouble when the sales lady brought that phone out with an instructional CD. Slowly but surely I am getting more familiar with the ins and outs of it. I will confess that when I can get it to work right, I love it.
But I digress … I have now figured out how to merge the new phone with Facebook. Now my problem is I only have four friends.
How am I supposed to get the scoop when I only have four friends?
That’s not very much of a tip pool when you think The Star-News has the whole county to cover.
Mercy, it sounds like I’m whining. I confess I’m not — it just makes me scratch my head in amazement that we can connect others through one small cable. We can instantaneously inform the masses — whether it’s a small group of friends, the community or the entire world.
And now, like I don’t have enough to worry about with mothering, reporting, Facebook-ing, someone is telling me I should give farming a try.
I told her, “Honey, I grew up in Red Oak. We had corn, okra and peas. I’ve had my share of farming. If I can’t pick it up at the Pig or my momma doesn’t bring it home from the Co-Op, we’re not eating it.”