Bryan: Past and Present (Blog 1)

Like Rebecca, I too began as a skeptic. Friends kept inviting me to join Facebook but I resisted. Previous sites before it had gotten my membership and I then did nothing with them. Each time I’d get to that place in the sign up where they’d ask me to invite my contacts, I’d lose interest.

This figure to the right was borrowed from the research of Boyd and Ellison (2007). You can read more about their work at http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/boyd.ellison.html.

My reluctance dated back to the grandfather of social networking sites, Sixdegrees.com. At risk of dating myself, I’ll confess to being a charter member. That was in 1997 and, after only two years of real internet commerce, the world as a whole was still skeptical of sharing their personal information online.

The backlash I got from people who now wouldn’t think twice about joining my Facebook page was overwhelming and the experience obviously coloured my perspective for a decade. But for some reason, much like Rebecca and Chantelle, I felt left out and finally gave in to peer pressure.

That was in 2007, almost an entire year after Facebook had launched and by the time I got to it, practically everyone everywhere was already a member. It must have grown like wildfire overnight. I guess like most social trends there is an evolution.

In the beginning things grow slowly as the majority resists change but, with each new convert, a couple more are influenced. Before long that ping-pong size snow ball is a basketball and then a boulder. Finally, the mainstream accepts it and skeptics like you, Nick, are the minority. And yes, those who don't participate are often left out.