Today happens to be my birthday (nope, not telling my age). How do I know? Well, Dec. 11th* is part of my Facebook profile and some of my Facebook "friends" are sending me Happy Birthday messages. I'm not complaining. It's very nice to get birthday wishes.
But the truth is that I don't know many of these "friends" very well. We have a virtual -- albeit warm -- acquaintance. Often I've met them face-to-face at conferences or other engagements, but not always.
Facebook birthday wishes drive home that we're living in a wild wacky world where privacy is a thing of the past, your latest social networking contact knows more about you than your neighbors and... "authenticity" is, well, perhaps not as authentic as it used to be.
I'm hoping my children will remember my birthday. They usually do. So far no messages from them on Facebook. But thanks Jessica (my son's girlfriend)!.
Update: all three of my kids have called / emailed in private. And my husband wrote me a romantic note - on paper no less. (He's not into gifts except occasionally, when they're very grand). So it's a wonderful birthday. Thanks everyone.
*Note: some folks include the "year" of their birth in this section of a Facebook profile. Others don't.
Useful Links
How to create a Facebook profile
Why should we care about privacy? (Nov. 23, 2007 in The Guardian)
Previous Comments
Lehi Drew said on December 11, 2007 at 08:02 PM
First of all, happy birthday! I don’t know you either, but since I too am networking, I thought it appropriate. Social networking is a great way to meet new potential clients or reaching a reader audience. You might be interested in reading this post http://www.beneaththecover.com/2007/06/22/social-networking/ by Kim Dushinski at Beneath The Cover http://www.beneaththecover.com
max said on December 12, 2007 at 01:41 AM
happy birthday from italy!
i was checking your site before posting about your book, and I noticed the coincidence, so I thought that you might like to receive my little review as a (late) present from overseas.
I enjoyed the book, and told my readers that I did.
thank you then for helping the communicators community through your advice!
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