Everyone’s been talking about exes contacting them on Facebook and the awkward weirdness that ensues. It’s become such a hot topic that it was the first discussion point on BlogHer’s new BackTalk feature. I don’t know about you, but the internet’s ad nauseum discussion of exes on Facebook feels just like 24 hour news media overkill of similar non-topics. Okay, Internet, we get it.
Also let me just make a side note about video blogging or vlogging. I know I’m not in the majority with this opinion but if there are any of you out there who agree with me, let this make you feel like you are not alone. I read blogs because of the good writing or the story or the topical information. If I want to see people on video talking about the same subjects that they handle so much better with their writing, I will turn on the television. I will watch The View or Oprah or CNN. And I don’t even watch those anyway (with the exception of an occasional Oprah viewing – I don’t watch it very much anymore, and what the heck is she doing discussing things with a panel of people whose opinions I don’t even care about? I vote no, Oprah). I know everyone’s doing it, but just because they are doesn’t mean you have to follow suit. Sigh. My complaint is just another bit of evidence that I am a) behind the times and b) resistant to change. Now that I wrote this it will be that much more ironic when you come back here to read something and see my daily vlog post. But seriously, I hate the way I look on camera and I really hate the sound of my voice so I don’t think that’s going to happen. Maybe I will be the Last Blogger Who Blogs.
So, back to The Facebook Problem. I was thinking about this because of the loss of my Uncle Steve, who is my friend on Facebook. I wondered what would happen to his Facebook page. I remember reading a few years ago about myspace and Facebook pages that catalogued users who had died. By now these types of sites have lost many users and it has become more commonplace for people to discover the death of an old friend or a distant loved one by logging on to their page. Uncle Steve only had 10 friends on Facebook, but I was concerned that as more people (and let’s face it, more older people) begin to use Facebook they would discover his page and wonder why he was not accepting their friend requests.
I brought this up with one of my aunts and a few days later there is now a message on Uncle Stephen’s Facebook page that announces his death, posted by his companion Robert. It breaks my heart to think about him writing and posting that message, but in the end I think it is a useful tool, an impersonal way to get the news out without making 100 tearful phone calls.
As usual death makes me wonder about my own mortality, and of course I ask myself this question: “If I die who will post it on my blog?” Nobody knows my passwords (God FORBID) so someone will have to leave it in the comments section. Or maybe link to a wall message on my Facebook page. Or maybe one day it will be a common thing that people put into their wills: the Social Media Executor Clause. Or maybe that already exists! Like I said, I’m chronically behind the times.
You may be the next-to-last video blogger – I’ll be the last. I don’t much care to watch video on my computer in the first place, but more importantly, I read blogs for the same reasons you mentioned – the writing and the stories. Hopefully there are enough of us to keep that side going for awhile.
I would flog myself before I vlog myself. The whole death thing is tough. When a friend died and we had to try to figure out how to tell everyone, it was weird because she still existed in cyberspace. There should be a policy w/ social networking sites to be able to report someone’s passing.
Kim, again you called me out behind the curtain of anonymous lurker with this articulate blog. I knew there was a reason I lurk every day to read your posts, and not just because I enjoy reading your writing, but because we are kindred spirits when it comes to vlogs, and other technological wonders. If you are the Last Blogger who Blogs, I’d like to think that I’ll be one of many remaining who will know how to read your blogs with appreciation for your style and wit.
sabrina
what you may not know is that i have a new attitude about lurkers. all are welcome! lurk away, enjoy, and comment if you wish. you know i love it.
I am with you on the vlogging! I want to read good writing. I could care less about another talking head (no offense to Erin, of course). My husband could not be my social media executor since he is a Luddite. Hmmm, what to do?
Ilina,
I was actually thinking about who I would choose. It MUST be another blogger and someone who knows the Blogger platform. I have someone in mind, someone who shares my outlook on life and has many things in common with me. She probably already knows who she is.
I’ll be with you, blogging and not vlogging. Maybe some day there will be a “save the blog” initiative, just like people have been talking about “save the newspaper” recently.
Some of the saddest posts I’ve ever read have been “If you are reading this then I am gone” posts. Put it in your will, I guess- to have someone post the Final Post.
You are being featured on Intrepid Tuesday!
http://www.fivestarfriday.com/2009/02/intrepid-tuesday-edition-17.html
Totally with you on the vlogging thing. It annoys me.
(But, um, then again, a lot of things Dooce does annoys me…and didn’t she start a lot of this vlogging stuff? Whoops. That was mean. I’m blaming the wine I’m drinking as I type.)
Myspace and facebook will actually allow a “next of kin” account access in the event of the death of an account holder.
It’s so random that I know that.
I share many of your quirks and concerns. I’d have to make myself look all purty to vlog and that keeps me away.
I store many passwords in my head and nowhere else and also have passing thoughts to the effect of yours- what if I’m in a horrible accident or have a stroke. Sure I *could* write them down. But I don’t. Maybe someday I will. Like, before I launch my vlogging career.