Facebook has added a whole new dimension to social networking, in fact reinventing it. Like any new media certain protocols develop; like learning not to capitalize all the letters in an e-mail message for fear of appearing loud or angry.

There are those who engage continuously through their iPhone or Blackberries and seem interested in sharing what seems to be the most trivial activities of their day. There are those that share links to entertaining videos or interesting articles.

There are those that engage through questions and lists about yourself.

I find that it is a fascinating place to add some depth to otherwise casual relationships, to rekindle old relations, and to get to know authors and readers with similar interests.

I follow my daughter and some of her friends but I am cautious to avoid ‘conversations’ with them less I appear to be intruding on her social network. I am cautious of appearing predatory towards women that I do not know and avoid ‘friending’ strangers unless we share at least 12 common friends.

While I share articles that I find offers some insight I try to avoid blatantly political and partisan attacks since I pride my ‘friend’ pool on its political diversity.

Facebook clearly is used by many to promote business interests and that is largely why I got involved. Combining business and social networks can have some real potential as long as it does not get overwhelmingly and blatantly commercial. People do like to do business with people they know and like.

To me Facebook is like a living Rolodex where you can get constantly updated information on your ‘friends’ and contacts. The new media has developed so fast that its uses are just being discovered, and every user gets to set his or her own rules.

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