This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Nov. 22, 2010 - "Did you see the discussion about [insert important topic here]?"
Awkward moment of silence.
"I posted it on my - oh wait! You're not on Facebook."
So goes the start of a conversation I've had with Beacon GM Nicole Hollway at least 100 times. Her sudden and bewildered re-recognition that I'm (still) not on Facebook is usually followed by a back-and-forth that involves her asking why I'm not on the popular social media site and me offering up ever more bizarre answers.
I'm allergic to digital poking. I'm in rehab for Farmville addiction. I'm hoping for a lucrative promotions deal when I'm the last human being alive not on Facebook.
I started with the usual reasons people have for not being on Facebook, but these were quickly batted down.
Privacy concerns, you say? As any Facebooker will be delighted to explain, you now have myriad privacy controls allowing you to create any number of versions of your profile, and then determine which of your friends sees which version. It all sounds tremendously time consuming to me.
But forget the "I don't have time" excuse. I'm told you can put as little time as you wish into Facebook, even down to no time at all. While it's hard to argue I can't spare an extra zero minutes per month, I fail to see the value in a page I simply set up and then immediately abandon.
So here, finally, are the real reasons I'm not on Facebook:
I find voyeurism creepy. I'll admit a bit of hypocrisy on this one. I like looking at pictures of children posted by somebody I haven't talked to since high school as much as the next person. I just don't want to be on the other side of that scenario. It's not that I'm super private - anyone can find numerous phone numbers, physical addresses and email addresses for me with a simple Web search. But, unlike Facebook, those methods require actual interaction for you to find out what's happening with me. I prefer that. Also, Facebook represents a very real intrusion into the privacy of friends and family that might show up in photographs or comments that I would post if I had a page.
I don't trust Facebook. It's not just Facebook, although founder Mark Zuckerberg seems to be particularly untrustworthy (NSFW example). It's any business. For-profit corporations are designed to create profit. If that means trouncing on my trust by selling private data or some other unseemly act, then so be it. The only reason this doesn't happen more often is because the long-term impact diminishes the value of such acts to net losses. There have been several instances of Facebook selling personal information (Check out examples).
I'm just not that into it. More than anything else, the reason I'm not on Facebook is disinterest. Like everyone else, I have a lot of demands on my time and attention, and Facebook doesn't make the cut. I think for most people, this is part of the draw. Facebook feels like a highly efficient way to stay in contact with friends and family. I may be in the minority, but I would rather have fewer stronger connections than hundreds or thousands of Facebook connections.
In summary, Facebook: It's not you, it's me.
Shawn McGinness is the Beacon's business manager.