But losing the fan page hurts . . .

If you've looked for me over at www.facebook.com/didgery and come up empty handed, blame Google+! I'm taking a Facebreak, and this is why: I looked at Google+ yesterday, and I thought, "well, this is sort of silly. Any of these people could reach me by email or phone if they wanted to keep in touch. If I find web content of particular interest to any of these people, I can share it with them without signing up for yet another service that requires (or at least tempts) daily interaction." Oh, and I also thought it looked a lot like Facebook. And acted a lot like Facebook. Spaghetti Monster knows I don't need another distraction like Facebook in my already over-wired life.

I like Facebook a little too much, but I've been quick to defend the hour+ that I spend on the site in an average day. "But it's networking," I say, "and a marketing opportunity!" What, exactly, am I marketing? Not my business, which is better served through email and telephone contact with my clients and peers. My blogs? Yes, I do market my blogs on line, and Fenway Bartholomule's active Facebook fanpage is hard to close the door on. The blogs stand alone, though, and if anyone's been reading my Facebook page with any sort of close attention then they know how to find www.puddlerun.com, and from there a link to at least three other websites which all reveal my email contact information. I have not fallen off the face of the world, at least not to an attentive friend.

As for Fenway's followers—whom I value, and would hate to alienate—if they've been reading www.facebook.com/fenwaybartholomule for all these many months and somehow missed the link to www.braysofourlives.com, then that would be a shame. I do have a new comment system set up on Brays of Our Lives, and I hope that it will allow Fenny to keep in touch with his many loyal, kind, and interesting followers. When it comes to my own friends, I will miss a little of the web content (cute whale videos, interesting political commentary, and funny status updates about the challenges and rewards of parenting and/or living in bear country) that streams into my brain via Facebook. With 50 out of every 60 online minutes, though, I have a sneaking suspicion there's something better I could be doing. Reading the news, weeding the garden, or calling my good friends to keep in touch. The Mayumis, Dayes, Colleens, Anns, and Susans of my online life (some of whom are rediscovered real-world friends, and some of whom I've yet to really meet) know how to reach me. I don't want to fall out of contact. There are more good friends on my Facebook contact list than I have space to list here, but I'm not closing the door on you. I'm just closing the door on my own bad habits—my procrastination, my lazy streak, and my tendency to choose sitting on my ass over living my wonderful life.

Keep in touch!

M

P.S. In a couple of weeks I'll be shutting down my spam-infested Yahoo account, which I've had since the internet got invented, practically. If you have been reaching me there at afatbrownmare, please shoot me one last email for a more updated contact method. My poetry email address, accessible through www.commissionedpoetry.com, is one means of reaching me. Thanks.