So I've been hearing a lot about this "Facebook" thing lately. It's apparently quite popular, with 16 million users in Canada alone. That's pretty impressive, huh?

With 47% of the Canadian population using Facebook, we now hear about divorce lawyers digging up dirt with ease, see photos downloaded from crime suspects and victims' Facebook profiles on the news, and learn about our friends' lives--from marriages and breakups to new jobs and even the birth of relatives. We also know who spends most of their work hours playing games where you pretend to be a farmer, vampire or gang member.

So, privacy! This is a big deal, and one I'd like to discuss in greater depth in future. For now, however, I pose this question: why are you using Facebook?

Speaking personally, I'm on Facebook because everyone else uses it, and it's better for me to know who's talking about me than not. With such significant marketshare (effectively, everyone in Canada between 15 and 40) most of us really do HAVE to be on Facebook.

That said, I don't use it much. I use Twitter to stay in touch with Vancouver's local tech/blogger/photographer community and really only read a handful of Facebook friends' profiles. My Twitter posts get automatically imported as Facebook Updates via the Twitter Facebook application. (An even better option is Selective Tweets: it allows you to append "#fb" to the end of your posts to Twitter, ensuring that only those tweets will be posted to Facebook as Updates.)

I still get event invitations, know when I've been tagged in a photo, or mentioned in a wall post. Those come directly to my email. So really, it's a much more Catherine-centric Facebook experience overall, always a feature I enjoy.

This deliberate disengagement from Facebook has both positive and negative consequences. It's definintely better for me overall: I don't spend time learning what's new with Becky, Jessica's friend. (You know, from Grade 7?) I really don't need to know that.

As for disadvantages, well, it's possible to miss something this way. The big issue is that I inaccurately communicate the degree to which I am present on Facebook. Friends frequently make the assumption that I am logging in and seeing their posts several times a day. Friends, I can assure you that I am not.

"Oh, I posted it on my Facebook--you saw that, right?" a friend will ask.

"Yeeeessss, of course," I will say, slyly pulling my iPhone out of my pocket to quickly review whatever the heck they are talking about. Social faux pas averted!

So why do I use Twitter? Isn't that just Facebook, only shorter and more vapid? Yeah, basically--and that's why I use it. I've often joked I use Twitter to find out which bars I should be going to. Really, I think that's the big sell: someone might post about what's on their mind, and if it matters, I might respond. If I don't see it, it probably doesn't matter.

This is intended to be the first of a couple posts on managing social networks, so I will close with a question: what do YOU use Facebook for?