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In order from top, left to right:
Former school classmate
Blogger friend
Former co-worker
Rehoboth gay friend
Blogger friend
Genealogy (and gay) friend
Neighbors
Blogger friend
Family friends (cousin and wife) who aren't freaked out because I'm gay - they've met Bill
I originally joined Facebook to keep in touch with relatives, the children and grandchildren, of my cousins. They don't know me but they know OF me. I'm the family historian. By having them as "Friends" on Facebook I had access to the latest photos of their families. Many of these 2nd and 3rd generation cousins I've never met in person nor would I likely too in my lifetime. Especially now that I came out publicly as a gay man. I really sealed my social coffin with most of the members of my extended politically conservative family when I posted photos of my marriage to my Bill on my Facebook account. Some unfriended me immediately lest I contaminate their Facebook page. Some of the others who remain Facebook friends never deign to comment of Like any comments I make. Maybe they're just too lazy to unfriend me.
Several times I have considered closing my Facebook account entirely but I always came back to the thought "Why?" So I continue to have my Facebook account.
Of course I have unfriended a few former friends, including family. I will unfriend anyone who posts crazy Republican Right Wing racist rants against our president. I don't need to read that trash. I hear enough of it on TV as it is. I've also unfriended more than a few of my fellow gay inhabitants of this so called "all inclusive" Camp Rehoboth. I joined Camp Rehoboth but they studiously ignore my existence. Never comments, never liking or even unliking (is that a word?) I comment on my Facebook page. Camp Rehoboth is an all inclusive club all right, all inclusive for a privileged few.
The Facebook friends that I do have are an eclectic group of folks. Some I've never met but know through my family genealogy research. Some are former co-workers. Others are a few genuine friends that I have made since moving to Delaware. And one is a longtime friend from my grade school days. And last, but not least, more than a few are friends I've met through blogging.
So while I may not post everyday to Facebook I am glad that I have another outlet for staying in contact with friends. And I am appreciative.
I especially like the photos. You know me and my photos. I want a legacy after I'm long gone. I never did get around to writing my autobiography. Besides, if I did, who would read it? So my autobiography is my blog and my Facebook page. When I'm long gone my orneriness will live on through my blog postings and Facebook photos.
Isn't this new Digital Age wonderful?