Social Networking / Networthing

Ahhh, Facebook. It is such a delicate dance - call it the social network dance. Some of us are crazy ego pods while some of us are timid voyeurs, with the moderates sandwiched in between. The self-promotion piece is the biggest challenge for some, jamming themselves down your throat every time you check your feed, offending as a means to an end. Thank God for the business page option. By all means, define yourselves using the extra business page. In the words of Martha Stewart, "it's a good thing".  Facebook is a lot of things. Most of all, it is an ultrasound of your friends, real and imagined. I say imagined because so many of us "friend" people whom we barely know. Now I am guilty on this one if only because I friend people I once knew really well. Yet, I sometimes think that the friends I had in high school know the real me as well as anyone I've met since. After all, we are questing for so much at that age. I know that I wore (and wear) my heart on my sleeve. Some people really get the whole FB culture. For instance, I love it when people show a photo of some noteworthy event like a birth or a graduation. I love to see pics and videos from a school event, and ALWAYS appreciate a laugh. The birthday posts are awesome and there is no better virtual format than FB for when things aren't going so well for someone or when soliciting advice or a need. But let's be honest, we all want to get something out of Facebook. It is a true give and take community. If you make me laugh at your clever post or help me stay connected with a reference to your recent milestone, we both get something out of it. There are infinite posts, however, that just seem really useless. As busy as we are, do we really need to know that your coffee is especially strong this morning? It's a tightrope walk.