IS Facebook Losing Its Edge?

I had a fascinating discussion with a young woman yesterday while finding out if my Medicare Provider still had a program that would allow me free swimming at the local Y. (Did you know that the old YMCA and YWCA is now just the "Y?")

As we chatted she asked me what I did now that I was retired and I mentioned painting and having an Etsy store. I handed her my card and said if you're really bored, you can look at either my store or read my blog.

Really she asked? She had an Etsy store as well. I added that I had deleted my Facebook page for a variety of reasons (already listed in earlier blogs) and she startled me by saying she doesn't have a page either. I told her that I post things on Pinterest but that most of my viewers seemed to come from Etsy anyway.

I quizzed her a bit more about Facebook and she had about the same reservations that I had. Nothing you put there is private she said. She had friends with unpleasant experiences and then there was the revelation Sunday that some girls in the mid-west had their "private" photos posted all over Facebook.

There is a trend and you are seeing more articles about how it is not the "in" thing with the "in" crowd anymore. I think the original intent was. It was fun. Friends could keep in touch and as everyone has since learned the things you posted there soon made their way to places you never wanted them to go.

And of course its a great time sink. I know that many companies are using Facebook and we are literally beseiged by them to "favor" them. Soon it will be just like the radio, we interrupt this never-ending stream of ads to play a song. No wonder cars offer ways to play your music off your iPhone, iPod and such. There are no ads there.