Facebook For Dummies, 5th Edition

Chapter 16

Ten Ways Facebook Uniquely Impacts Lives

In This Chapter

• Getting ready to go to school
• Meeting people in your new city
• Keeping up with the kids

Sometimes people are dismissive of Facebook, saying, “I keep up with my friends by calling them and visiting them. I don't need a website to do that for me.” And you don't need a website to do that for you. At the same time, though, Facebook can supplement your existing relationships in very real ways. Here are some ways that maintaining a friendship on Facebook can have big impacts in the real world.

Keeping in Touch with Summer Friends

I once spent a summer leading a troop of sixth graders into the wild. After two weeks of backpacking, kayaking, climbing, and bonding, the kids were given a big list of e-mail addresses and phone numbers, said their goodbyes, and were packed off to their respective homes. I, about to head out west to work at Facebook, lamented the fact that the kids were too young to be on Facebook because they almost assuredly would lose that sheet of paper. I quickly friended my co-counselors (who were all old enough to be on Facebook) and kept up with them through photo albums, messages, and the occasional poke war. As an added bonus, years later, when one of my cocounselors needed a reference, he knew exactly where to find me.

Not just for me, but for thousands of high school students, the best-friends-for-the-summer — who had a tendency to fade away as school and life took over — are now a thing of the ...