Saturday, May 30, 2009

Facebook - the experience

Well it's not good. So far at least. We finally got around to trying Facebook and fell flat on our ...face. I guess. It sounded like a good idea. People had suggested we create a page for the book, so we thought we'd give it a go. We went to Facebook and found a invitation that asked if we were creating a page for a band or product or art. Hmmm, we thought. I guess writing is an art, so we clicked on that and sure enough we were allowed to choose "writer" as one of the categories. I thought well this makes sense so far. Next we were asked to upload a picture and write a little something. I wrote that I was creating this page to publicize my book...which was true. It took a while but eventually the picture popped up. So far so good. I wanted to include a link to the Youtube clip and tried that and it also worked. I was feeling better about things and my mind was busy thinking of other things I might add that would let people know about my book. I thought of the book cover and uploaded that too. I had to create a photo album to do that. I wasn't sure why, but that seemed to be how it worked. So bit by bit I was getting there - I thought. Hovering off to the side was this ominous message that reminded me I had not published this page. I figured eventually the chance would present itself for me to "publish" what I'd done so far but it never happened. I clicked on the next choice and was told I needed to create a profile. It was all down hill from there. What high school did I graduate from? What college did I attend? I wondered what those questions had to do with my book but I filled in the choices and that was the last I saw of my book. Gone! I tried everything to return to my book page. I knew I'd uploaded those pictures and entered
those links, but no, I was stuck in a profile somewhere. OK, so I missed a step I thought. I'll bomb out and try again. After all I had created an email and password.
Click. Facebook disappeared and was back at the internet screen. I quickly typed in
Facebook and....I was right back at the profile business. What had happened to my book? Where had my pictures gone? Why couldn't I find my pictures? Oh boy. Talk about frustration. Click click click. I tried every option on the screen. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. No pictures and no evidence of my book. I logged out and returned two or three times. No change. I always ended up at the same old place. I even tried finding some FAQ's that might give me a hint. I knew enough to do that. But even then every time I went to Facebook I ended up in that profile section. Finally I quit. Geesh I thought. This website is one of the most popular in the world. Bazillions of people use the thing, and I can't. Go figure. Now I'm afraid to try again. What do I need another identity? Maybe I should go in the witness protection program? I think now Facebook knows about me and won't allow me to proceed or go back. Years ago the Kingston Trio had a hit folk song "Charlie on the MTA". It was about a poor rider on the Boston subway who didn't have the dime that was demanded for him to get off the train. In the 1940's the fare structure for the MTA was so complicated it was laughable and one piece of it demanded you pay a fee to exit the car! Poor Charlie didn't have the dime he needed to get off so he would ride forever on the MTA. I guess that's me and Facebook. There's got to be some toll or trick or bribe that will
get me started again or get my pictures back, but I don't know it, so like Poor Charlie I guess I'm doomed to forever be stuck on a profile screen. I need somebody to slip me the extra "fare" so I can get off. I guess when friends ask me how the Facebook thing is going I'll just have to say "Not so good. Not so good."