Face in the jar by the door

As several bloggerini have said - notably Vanessa - a lot of us would prefer to keep professional and personal separate, especially if one does lead a double life as university librarian and stripper, entirely possible given who Belle de Jour turned out to be. Unfortunately the sort-of requirement to have a library presence on Facebook has made that division difficult on that platform, unless one is awfully clever with settings [I find it very hard to work out what others would actually see on my pages, even with Facebook telling me, as they make the possibilities so complicated].

Andy confesses to turning down colleagues' 'friend' requests so he can post 'full and frank' 'tired and emotional' exposes of them on Facebook [OK, I've loosely paraphrased]. LOVED his Michael Thomas example, by the way! Indeed, Crail's Head of Department no less did gently point out that acceptance of his 'friend' overture had been a little precipitate, since he could see things one might prefer he didn't [Crail Minor's antics presumably, since one's own life is blameless. Too embarrassed too ask]. Aidan has pertinently pointed out that the required use of the term 'friend' is often inappropriate. He also says "Facebook brings together play versions of lots of things that thrive better in a full-size version elsewhere". Much as it would be lovely to have one-thing-does-all, we know it ain't going to happen any time soon. We've all got several remotes at home [with the one we need of course missing], and we've all popped off on a mini-break whilst CrossSearch chuntered away [yes, I do know you can limit].


It would seem to be eminently sensible to use Facebook for the personal and LinkedIn or something similar for professional contacts. But, let's face it, Crail's already minimal chance of a career in libraries is now well-and-truly down the pan, along with the less-than-meteoric rise in MacDonalds ['No, I am NOT saying 'Have a nice day!'] 80% of employers use LinkedIn et al for recruitment? That requires some serious manipulation of one's personal details. Incidentally, LinkedIn does allow poseurs to claim they read 'War and Peace' in Russian, where Facebook does not.

Finally.... Is it just me, or does the mega-success of Facebook in particular suggest that there's an awful lot of Eleanor Rigbys out there, the stuff of 'Message in a bottle', and all those other songs people can no doubt think of, all feeling more and more isolated as we become immersed in technology?