Facebook or Blogger?

Its 2am and my phone buzzes. I am far away in dream land and vaguely hear it. The next morning, I have 12 new text messages. I think "was there an emergency?" and even think "did i miss something" which is prone to happen. As I scroll down I realize that they are all wall posts to Facebook. They are Status changes such as these

i'm wide awake in vegas with no where to gamble

Pasta party tonight

COPY THIS INTO YOUR STATUS AND SEE WHAT PEOPLE RATE YOU!

officially alone.

Like a drifter I was born to walk alon

off to two consults. I'm excited!!

sooooo sleepy

Those are just a few of the "status posts" some of my sweet and dear friends have made. Needless to say I took that app off of my phone. And it got me thinking. Whats the big deal with Facebook? What is so addicting about it? And what does most of those mean anyhow?

Now I am a blogger. That must be obvious. And my guess is that you are too. Most people are. Now how many use Facebook? From the article found here, "We will welcome our 200 millionth active user to Facebook some time today,"

Now I did read the whole article. And I do believe that the creators are smart, ultra-techy, and have created a global network. I know that Facebook does allow for networking where before it was impossible. I even know that a lot of companies when looking at applicants, will search for them on Facebook, Blogger, and Twitter. What kind of people are they really? I read an article a few months back about how this woman had gotten hired and fired within the same day because of her status update on Facebook that read something to the effect "I hate my new job." How does that help her network? But that is a whole different subject so let me get back on track. I think Facebook, for the most part, is misused.

I do not often look at Facebook. By often I mean once a week, maybe twice if I know I am getting a message. But since all of that can be sent to my email or my phone, it is more like once a week. Blogger allows me to more fully express my feelings. It provides an outlet for my ideas and allows me to "journal" my life. Some may argue that Blogging takes too much time. Did you know you can actually get blog through your phone the same way you post a status on Facebook. Yep. And it is FREE. Read more here. I can upload pictures to go along with my story or use that picture to express how I feel. I can connect my friends and read about what they are doing or how they are handling life. Being away from family allows me to "see" what they have been up to. I recently sent an email to my sis Shelby. I asked her for some baby bump pictures since she is expecting soon. (Thank you for posting the pictures!) I can add music to play when you visit and the best part? Well that is easy. I can put it into book form for my posterity.

You will have significant experiences. I hope you will write them down and keep a record of them, that you will read them from time to time and refresh your memory of those meaningful and significant things. Some may be funny. Some may be significant only to you. Some of them may be sacred and quietly beautiful. Some may build one upon another until they represent a lifetime of special experiences."
{Gordon B. Hinckley}

I recently (meaning yesterday) put this as my status update on Facebook. "What is it about Facebook. People who were faithful bloggers now Facebook and forget to blog! Don't you know you can blog post via text message? Sheesh! Come back to the light!" This was in response to a little frustration I felt at old friends who used to be faithful bloggers (or at least once-every-three-months) have no longer posted anything. Yep, you know who you are. And sure enough, I go to Facebook and there they are. Posting pictures and playing games etc. One excuse to not blog is that "it takes up so much time". Oh Really? And how long do you spend playing games on the computer I ask.

Here are the responses to my status update. Which were unexpected and gratefully appreciated and which inspired this post. Yes this one. The one that will go into my book at the end of the year.

Elisabeth Lynn WilliamsI finally posted :) I'm back on my roll..

McKay HansenBlogs take much more time. Facebook is quick and easy. Did you forget that we live in the microwave/fast food era?

Karie Bailey Hubnik I actually love to blog more but have been swamped. Rest assured that my blog will be updated soon! :o)

Trish Tupou

i concur with mckay

Marie Hamilton

I try to once a week, although many times it's very cut and dried. It comes in handy to have recorded some of the stuff at times.

Nancy Shay Ruegner

We don't blog and we don't write letters like we should. Will your children even know what your handwriting was like. Just another thought.

Liselle Parry

blogging takes WAY more time. every time i blog i spend at least 3 constant hours at the computer.. probably becaue i like to be thorough and i hate not having all the details.. i realy need to be a better blogger though :)

Karie Bailey Hubnik

Ok, so here is my two cents. Personally, like I said I prefer blogging over Facebook for several reasons. Although it is time consuming it makes me feel more connected with my friends than a quick one or two line update like "I'm getting ready to eat a cake" or something like that as we see on Facebook. Don't get me wrong Facebook has it's benefits (obviously I use it) however it lacks the opportunity to maintain and build strong relationships, in other words I see it as a glorified form of texting, as opposed to a blog that dips into the personal moments in one's life sharing wisdom, experiences, happiness, sadness,in a more detailed manner. There of course needs to be a balance, like I said I don't think Facebook is a bad thing, but I'll bet there are a lot of people out there that spend oodles of hours on Facebook. My friend Shauna calls it wastebook because once she gets on she can't get off. I loved the recent talk in the church magazine that encouraged balance because we need to maintain relationships beyond texting/facebook, etc and make sure we can actually hold a conversation longer than two sentences! LOL, it cracked me up. Also, since most of my friends are busy mothers I love reading their blogs, because they are more like journals, their insight and wisdom makes me feel I'm not alone in this big journey we call life, which I definitely don't get that feeling from facebook. It's funny as many friend's as we can have on FB it still seems so impersonal. LOL. Anyway, there ya go, two cents from Karie. Don't give up on the blog Makana!

Karie Bailey Hubnik

Nancy, I loved your thoughts on the lost art of letter writing. I agree. For fun my kids have been penpals with some of my friend's children, just so they can actually learn to write a letter, mail it and anticipate getting one back.

Karie Bailey Hubnik

now this would be a great blog post.........LOL

Nancy Shay Ruegner

I wish we didn't make life so busy. It is all about choices I guess. I know I need to try harder with communication. Good comment Makana. Thanks Karie.

Now please don't misinterpret. I think Facebook is a great place. But I heartily agree with Nancy and Kari that the art of penmanship and even spelling and grammar are quickly dying out. Will my children ever know what it is like to write out "by the way" rather than BTW? Will all of their memories turn into 142 characters and be lost in cyberspace?

I am sure I have much more to say on this but I am also sure that if you actually have read this post all the way through, you are about ready to stop. Especially if you disagree with me. But I do think that before you disagree, give blogger a chance. And don't worry, I have disabled the feature on my phone. No more 2am buzzes.