Social Engagement Etiquette
I remember when I first got on Facebook. The first thing you did was friend/find everyone you knew because Facebook was a privilege. You needed to (1) be accepted to college and (2) needed to have you college email address. It was a mad rush to show that you knew as many people as possible.
But that was close to five years ago. Since then, I’ve done a few “friend purges” as Facebook became an integral part of my social interactions. The latest element of Facebook I recently depend on is Facebook events. Right before the latest Facebook redesign, I fell in love with the stalker-esque “Friends’ Events” feature. And the redesign made it that much easier to see what events are happening and what I could possibly miss.
It also brings up events that “low priority friends” (the people who for some reason constantly miss the purging cuts) are going to that are interesting to you. The best part, and strangely, the most anti-social part is, you don’t have to acknowledge the Facebook friend at said event.
With Facebook events and learning about events you have not necessarily been invited to come more social etiquette. Things like, don’t go to a small gathering (i.e. has less than 100 attendees) unless the host has invited you; along with if it’s an event that you found out about through a friend with complicated history (e.g. estranged best friends, ex-boyfriends) don’t go alone, bring your own friends.
Within the past few months, I’ve never been more dependent on Facebook to fill any blanks in my busy schedule. And as I become more dependent on Facebook to tell me what’s happening in my friends, family and contacts’s lives, more of these social rules come to light. What rules have you been following?
It could be that I don’t have an iPhone or that it just looks stupid at this stage, but I don’t get this 
Back in 2007, when the iPhone debuted, everyone said that it would change every facet of the world. And now while it is changing some things like communication, commerce (in a way) and expectations; advertising mainly stayed untouched. (Yes, I recognize there are ads on the iPhone, but they mainly follow the same principles as online advertising.)
My lack of posting in the past week was due to a disconnect caused by a road trip to and from a week long vacation in Miami. During the 24 hour straight drive down to Miami, there wasn’t much to look at besides license plates, billboards and the repetitive white lines. During the night hours, I noticed that drivers and passengers’ faces were lit with a blue glow.
The blue glow was either from their iPods or their built-in or independent GPSes or the video screens on the back of seats or hanging from the roofs. It got me thinking, technology is not only everywhere, but welcomed into spaces, such as cars, where at first thoughts, would be a unnecessary addition.
The Blue Glow in your home is taking on a new place. Instead of broadcasting from your TV, or radiating from your cell phone, or pulsating from the home or mobile computer, it’s planted right there on your kitchen counter top. While I might not be their target audience, (due to not having a place to live after graduation yet) I want one. I think it’s cool. And I have to say Verizon made me think it’s cool. The Hub was actually shown on Gossip Girl, one of my favorite teen drama shows just 2 weeks ago.