3 Valuable Lessons from Facebook

For as long as I can remember I have been a “people watcher”.  My grandma and I used to sit on park benches and other public seating, solemnly observing the rest of the world.  We rarely said anything – we just watched.  Sometimes she would comment on something funny or cute, but it was never a negative statement.  I learned a lot just sitting there taking it all in.  Sometimes the best education comes from just watching others.

The more I use Facebook, the more I am reminded of my “people watching” days.  Facebook has become my new educational tool.  I’m reading a lot less books these days, mainly because I’m waist deep into social networking and learning more than I ever thought I would from people.  Here are some tidbits I’ve picked up from Facebook:

1. We’re All Equally Curious

At the moment I have 338 Facebook friends.  They range from grade school classmates to relatives to college dorm mates to fans of Girls Can’t WHAT? to clients from my web design business.  Some of them I know really well and others I just met last week.  The first thing I do when I acknowledge a friend request is to check out that person’s profile.  If I’m comfortable with the relationship I leave a message, otherwise I just read through to see what’s new in their life.  At first I felt a little weird about accepting friend requests with people I barely spoke to in jr. high and not even “speaking” to them by leaving them a comment, but then I realized they are doing that to me, too.  We all have this morbid curiosity about each other.  Had we not run across one another in Facebook, we might not have ever thought about each other again. We may not speak but we are tracking each other.  Facebook is the new way to “people watch”.

2. Our Interests Change

Curiosity is a good thing.  Not only does curiosity on Facebook lead us to discover new things about our friends, but it leads us to discover new things about ourselves.  As I mentioned in the 7 Things About Me post, my high school friends know me as a trombone player.  I was usually first chair and played a lot of solos in marching band so they are often surprised to find that I am now playing drums in a band.  I didn’t pick up a pair of sticks until my junior year of high school and I only played at church, never at school.  Only a few people knew I played drums and when graduation approached and I told folks I was going on to college to major in music, they just assumed I would be playing trombone.  My interests changed.  Now my income comes from web and graphic design rather than music.

Looking at my Facebook feed, I see lots of people whose interests have changed.  I see friends who paint but who never took art class.  I see friends in the music industry that were never involved in band or chorus.  I see friends who were extremely non-athletic now teaching yoga classes and racing bikes.  It’s crazy, but so cool to see that no matter where we grew up or what we were involved in during our school years, we still have the potential to do and be anything we want to be.

3. Never Underestimate People

You would think that me of all people wouldn’t be surprised by some of the flat out amazing things some of my classmates are doing these days, but frankly I am.  They range from outstanding single parenting to running marathons, getting multiple degrees, raising special needs kids and becoming successful entrepreneurs.  Not that I didn’t think any of my peers were capable of doing these things, but when you’re in high school and college, you just don’t see yourself or anyone else your age in these types of roles.  Facebook has become a wonderful source of inspiration, don’t you think?

• My Facebook Profile
• Fans of Girls Can’t WHAT?