Last week a friend of mine pointed me to an unconventional Facebook ‘Event Invite’ he received. The invitation, for once not created as a result of an unfortunate 2:30 AM phone/toilet accident or to promote a party, was requesting a vote for a specific caption in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest. The event creator, a Trinity undergrad, was a finalist in the magazine’s weekly competition, and he was using Facebook as his campaign medium.

I couldn’t help but be surprised and impressed at this shrewd calculation. The event had been sent to over 1,000 people. Now I have no idea how many people worldwide vote per week for the contest winner, but I can’t help but think that the use of Facebook to get this particular finalist some extra votes is certainly beneficial and could potentially make the difference between winning and losing. Were it not for the event invite, I would not have voted. But I found myself entering in my contact information on The New Yorker website and selecting his caption solely for the sake of helping to advance one of my fellow Bantam’s place in the world. (I also thought it was the best/funniest out of the three choices.)

So how does it become that a bastion in the traditional world of magazine publishing, and one of the only institutions to be saved from Conde Nast’s recent brutal budget cuts, finds itself as part of the Facebook universe? If the overall goal of the New Yorker, or any media outlet, is to reach as many people as possible, then Facebook has become the go-to, and I think that’s a great thing, as long as these heralded institutions do not die out because of Facebook. Old media has adopted using the new media because they have no other choice, and as a result, they are now reaching a greater audience, even though they are losing money because of it.

The power of Facebook to change the way we communicate has become such a relevant part of so many of our lives that while thinking about this week’s class subject I couldn’t help but question, “What would my life be like without Facebook?” I believe it would be one disconnected from the realm of daily goings-on that makes life so spontaneous and significant. I’ve used Facebook to share, to learn, to read, to catch up, and even to gain a better sense of self. Anyone knows that the creation of one’s public profile is a period of self-reflection – a studied crystallization of who we are. We have to think what we want to be shared with the world- the image of ourselves that we don’t mind any objective reader seeing. Our interests, activities, favorite things, photos, and interactions with friends make us unique beings. And to see that documented every day is quite enchanting.

Facebook also makes us more active participants in our social culture. It has become for me one of the most convenient mediums for sharing articles, pictures, videos, and thoughts with all of my friends. And I feel that I’ve digested a lot via Facebook, hopefully bringing me closer on my path to adulthood and enlightenment. The power of instantaneous give and take is amazing.

Of course, there is a lot of trash out there. I detest the ‘Farmville’ or ‘Zombie Attacks’ applications that seem to be infiltrating the website. But I love that I can become a fan of NPR and get posts/updates that I would have missed. Just the other day I listened to an hour-long concert by Jamie Cullum all because it came up on my Facebook feed. I had no idea the concert had even taken place before I saw the post, and listening to it while writing a paper on E.M. Forster’s A Passage To India was a treat.

Just as we try everyday to get the most out of life, we must try to get the most out of Facebook. This requires a filtering of the bad and an embrace of the good.  Just like I make sure to filter actual things that are negative or unpleasant in real life, so can I ignore every Zombie Attack someone throws at me. This maximum utilization of the positive in both Facebook and life result in the most satisfying human experiences.

Some of my past entries have also concerned Facebook, so I encourage you to read those as well.