Facebook and Twitter and Monkeys Bathing

I'm on Facebook now.

Yes, just like everyone else. I had heard from more than one person within the last week that Facebook is where it's at. Initially, I excused it as another myspace-type website. I've been on myspace for years, but grew very tired of it and stopped visiting. Also, I'm not a twelve-year-old girl... so myspace sort lost its allure.

But after hearing testimonials from at least three different and unconnected people that Facebook was different, I decided to give it a whirl. I joined yesterday and within minutes (literally) I discovered a whole mess of my friends (current and old) on Facebook. I even connected with one of my favorite college professors who I haven't seen or spoken to in almost ten years.

Facebook is different. But very, very similar to myspace. The interface is cleaner and more straightforward. It feels like a myspace for adults. Or perhaps an evolved myspace. To me, it feels like Facebook is for people who grew out of sparkle fonts. (Don't tell anyone, but I predict we'll grow out of this one, too. Shh.) Regardless, it looks like people have made the shift over to Facebook. (On a deeper level, this is an exact product of the web's shift into Web 2.0.)

Bottom line: It's fun searching for friends and letting them all know what your favorite movies are.

I also began Twittering. On Twitter, of course. I joined Twitter over a year ago when it began. But never utilized it until this week. As I read more and more blogs, I kept spotting the Twitter badge on the sidebars. More and more people are twittering. So I figured I'd give that a whirl, too.

Twitter is hard to explain... Basically, you type in a sentence or two describing what you're doing at that moment. If I want to eat lunch, I can tell the world that I'm eating lunch. And I can even update my Twitter from my cell phone. "Jason is standing in line at the post office."

Riveting. I know. But this Twitter thing is huge right now. Yes, more Web 2.0 stuff, but it's important. This interactivity on the web is merely the beginning. Eventually, Twitter will die, or fade away. It'll be replaced by something bigger and even more interactive. (If I knew what that was I certainly wouldn't publish it here.)

So if you're 'puter savvy and want to jump into this new electronic movement, start a blog, join Facebook, and/or let me know when you're getting ready to take a dump via Twitter.

Or you can stick to the classics and watch this monkey take a bath: