To Facebook, or not to Facebook...

...that is the question. I'm a recent Facebook convert. Well, relatively recent - I signed up on the 7^th of January 2011 or there about. When standing around the barbeque fire, I was always the one professing adamantly, “Facebook? Nah, not for me!” But I must admit, since joining the Facebook bandwagon it has grown on me. I have reunited with many school friends who would otherwise have remained distant memories (and trust me, they are very happy because I know they missed me very much) or caught up more frequently with family when I probably would not have done so, were it not for Facebook. My friends count is currently standing at 143, quite modest really, when compared to some of my Facebook buddies with friend counts in excess of 500. I know, the definition of “friend” in the Facebook world is somewhat more liberal or more broadly defined when compared to my personal definition. 

Be that as it may, Facebook has become a very powerful medium with which to reach masses of people. The corporate world here in Australia (and I would guess the rest of the world too, with the exception of maybe North Korea and Mongolia) have spotted the potential of this platform, as have our beloved politicians. The operative buzz words being “social media”. It’s simply too big a lure for them to ignore - the promise of reaching millions of potential customers or supporters. I’ve never had a real problem with this, if they can get some free advertising by convincing someone to “like” them, make friends or join their page, then good on them. After all, I’m doing the exact same thing on this blog (not that I’ve been super successful to date, so once you're done reading this riveting piece, why don't you look to the right and like this page? C’mon! You know you want to!). 

But can you take social media too far? The answer to this question came to me the other day while I was sitting on the loo, pondering… (as one does). While my eyes shifted in and out of focus I started to notice a pack of toilet rolls on the floor which we wisely purchased the day before (trust me, you don’t want to run out of your supply of white gold, but that’s a story for another day). Anyway, my eyes eventually focussed on a sticker on the pack of toilet rolls cordially inviting me to find them on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter. Say WHAT?? Now I’ll be the first one to admit that I like them very, very much, and that my level of appreciation grew by an order of magnitude that fateful day when we ran out. But to tell the whole world, or at least your whole personal Facebook world, that you like the “triple ply, extra soft and fluffy, will not scratch or chafe, lightly fragranced for your enjoyment” toilet paper? I don’t think so - there are some things you just simply don’t put on Facebook. 

(of course, publishing it on my blog is a totally different story…)




2012-01-28 - Update: I never investigated their Facebook or Twitter pages any further, but my fellow blogger Michael Gorey did - read his excellent post on Toilet paper on Twitter and Facebook.