My newest discovery: Secret Facebook users

susie.wee — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 22:06:00 GMT

I’ve been an avid facebok user for years. I started using Facebook very soon after they first opened it up to people outside of the .edu domain. I recruited lots of old people into Facebook… long before it was acceptable for old people like me. And, I’ve been thrilled to watch it go more mainstream. I wrote a post about how my home town in Western New York has even joined in. And now you hear stories about how people’s grandmother’s are joining. This has allowed me to end up with a pretty entertaining set of Facebook friends. I think I passed some invisible threshold where my Facebook social network became large enough and active enough that I can be almost constantly entertained with interesting status updates, posts, and pictures. Pretty fun!

I have a few friends left who are still holding back from joining. They are concerned with privacy, and the thought of blasting their little life events is not at all appealing. Many of my recruits felt that way at the beginning and joined just to be polite to me (and perhaps because I begged a little), but many of them are now actively posting away and having fun. But I still have real-world friends who have not joined.

I was having dinner with old college friends last week and I made an interesting discovery- I discovered a secret set of Facebook users! These Facebook users don’t feel comfortable with getting an account (and some even dis the idea), BUT they lurk by using their significant other’s account! My one friend makes her husband friend her friends. And when she gets home from work, she asks him “What’s going on with my friends?” Another one of my friends just had a shocking event where her friend said “Oh, I saw that you were at so-and-so’s party”, and she thought “how the heck did you know that?”. The reason was because someone posted a picture on Facebook. She doesn’t feel comfortable with joining, but when I suggested she just look at her husband’s account, and she said “Yeah- that would be okay”.

Anyways, I thought it was interesting that there might be this hidden set of Facebook users who are not Facebook account holders. Any idea on how big this group is? Do you know any secret Facebook users?

Welcome to Facebook, Batavia!

susie.wee — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 06:36:00 GMT

I've been living in Silicon Valley for the last 12 years, and I was in Boston for 10 years before that, but I spent the first 16 years of my life growing up in a small town in western New York called Batavia. According to Google Maps, it would take me 1 day and 16 hours to drive 2717 miles from my old hometown to my current hometown.

My parents still live in Batavia in the house where I grew up. My bedroom is still in tact with beaten up children's furniture, paint, and wallpaper I chose when I was about 5 years old (pearly white dresser, lime green walls, pastel-colored wallpaper with rainbows and houses).

Batavia is a town of less than 20,000 people located halfway between Buffalo and Rochester. It is about 30 miles away from Buffalo, and lucky us, it is probably the last town within Lake Erie's snowbelt. In other words, we get all the snow that Buffalo gets without the benefits of living in a big city. But the good thing is that we have awesome chicken wings, those that are known to the rest of the world as Buffalo wings. If you're ever driving on the New York State Thruway between Buffalo and Rochester, make sure to stop by Batavia and hit Pontillo's Pizzeria on Main Street to get some of the best pizza and wings you've ever had. And you can stop by Batavia Downs to bet on a few horse races. But don't drive too far and don't blink, because if you go about 1 or 2 miles away from the Thruway exit in any direction you'll be out of the main part of Batavia and you may be in the middle of a corn field. I kind of think of Batavia as middle America- a small town with a high school, a mall, a Dunkin Donuts, and a few pizza joints. Batavia's first and only Starbucks just opened a couple months ago. My mom goes there on Sunday morning with her friends, but they only get coffees, not cappuccinos and lattes. Overall, Batavia is a modest town with down-to-earth, friendly people and I think it was a great place to grow up.

I lost track of most of my friends from Batavia, but the funniest thing has been happening over the last few months. They are now coming out of the woodwork and we're getting back in touch. How? Batavia is now on Facebook!

I've been an active facebook user for a couple years. Many of my Silicon Valley friends are on Facebook. Lots of people at HP are on Facebook. I can take the credit/blame for getting many people to join. Many of my college friends are on Facebook (I went to a techie college). But I was quite surprised when I first started getting Facebook friend invites from my fellow Batavians.

I now get status updates from my high school and elementary school friends, my brother's friends, my sister's friends, my band friends, my soccer friends, people who I was a babysitter for, and people who I babysat. Most of us seemed to have turned into respectable adults. Some people are generous enough to share family pictures. I can poke them, I can leave a comment for them, or I can just passively watch them. The coolest thing is that I can become friends with them even if I don't have time to talk to them.

I often wonder how long different web sites will be around. I thought Facebook would come and go. But I have to say, now that middle America is getting onto Facebook, it will probably be around to stay.

Welcome to Facebook, Batavia!

Research, Technology, and Teamwork blog by Susie Wee : batavia

My newest discovery: Secret Facebook users

Welcome to Facebook, Batavia!