Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Facebook : For Friends or Contacts ???

I have been observing the phenomenal growth of Facebook quite closely & I am pretty impressed with the way it has grown to such stature . But I have a serious doubt about the "Friends " people make on Facebook. To make it clear let us understand what a Friend is :
* A person with whom we have shared a personal rapport for sure at some point of time
* A person who we knows us well & we know that person well
* A person who would be always ready to be with us
& much more aspects which define a Friend
But if we see the kind of persons who are made "Friends " by people you see that hardly 1-2 % of them are really Friends . Others are merely Contacts - the persons whom we interact somewhere or other other in our professional lives . I mean how can all the colleagues of yours in a company be your "Friends " . I have seen people making every single person - with whom they have had even the slightest of Official Meetings - as their "Friend". The main purpose of being connected to such Contacts is to have a visbility in their professional circuit . But for that thing there is a much better avenue - LinkedIn . That is a forum where you can stay connected to professional acquaintances . So, why don't we start distingushing between Genuine Friends & Contacts . Let we be connected with friends on Facebook as it is a social networking site & be connected with fellow industry professionals, HR consultants , Present & Former Colleagues on Linkedin. This will make it very clear as to who are our Friends & who are our Contacts . Contacts can be many as who knows who can help you out at some point for getting a good break ,a dream job you aspire for but Friends have to be limited only .In fact Facebook should not at all have any mention of Profesional details at all . Let it have only Social relevance info only . Look forward to seeing more of Genuine Friends on Facebook & Contacts on LinkedIn .