So about six months ago I wrote a blog on this very site about my feelings on Facebook and I committed to never be a user.  My reasoning was clear and well thought out.  After I wrote it, some events happened that needed my participation and I allowed myself to be open to feedback.  In particular, I thought about the feedback of my member, Zoraya.

Here is what happened.  Shortly after my post, Great Basin Federal Credit Union created a Facebook page.  I am and always have been supportive of my credit union and the credit union movement in general.  I wanted to “like” Great Basin Federal Credit Union’s page so that I could engage in what this Facebook thing was about.  Secondly, a few months ago Reno Toyota was having a contest for teachers where they were giving money away to the teacher who got the most votes on Facebook.  My daughter’s teacher happens to be one of the entries up for consideration.  To clarify, you could only vote if you “liked” Reno Toyota and then you had to vote on their Facebook page.  Now I had two reasons to participate.  So I created a pseudo name so that I could not be found, Rose Cunningham.  Only those who really knew me would know why I chose that name.  I quickly had about 10 friends, mostly coworkers and family.  And now for the crow:  I like Facebook.

I learned a few things through this.  I learned that Zoraya was right; I should not have been so judgmental if I did not even know how Facebook worked.  I learned I can limit friends and who sees my information.  I found I can even limit friends of friends from seeing what I am “tagged” in.  I learned that my brother got a puppy and that my old co-worker has the most adorable 11 month old son.  I learned that most of my family members have Facebook pages and I hope to connect with some of my husband’s relatives that live in another state who he has not seen in almost 20 years.

Who knew?