Adventures in learning Facebook: I’m back on, but I didn’t get married on it

I just started up on Facebook again.

Maybe it was because I just went to a journalism conference and there was more interest it seemed in the digital media than there was in any other form of media. Should I trust it, most of the people at the conference don’t even know what a typewriter was.  But it’s a fact. FB is the internet, the better AOL, the place where people are. So I  am now on Facebook:

I’m on “Emil Guillermo Media”    https://www.facebook.com/emilguillermo.media  Like me there.

And so as not to confuse my professional writing from my personal musings and pictures of food and stuff Asian Americans like me  like to post:

https://www.facebook.com/emil.Guillermo

You will note that I was an early adopter of FB, starting up when they opened to the general  public in 2007. But I’m slow. I  didn’t become addicted until last week.

That’s all as a preface to this  note I posted on FB last week and that I repost here on my personal website. You see, I had an unintentional “life event” on FB, and I got to see how FB works so powerfully to connect people at the drop of the hat.

But as the Wall Street Journal would say, it required some “Clarification and Amplifcation.”

Here’s my note:

Dear Friends. I won’t bury the lead. I didn’t get married today. But hear me out, it’s kind of an interesting story. This is the first time I’ve been able to get to the computer to make amends for my errant post this a.m. As many of you know, I have “stayed away” from Facebook for many years. I was a bad FB’er. Maybe it was because I remember the original hardbound Facebook, where I would try to figure out how to meet some cute freshman from Radcliffe. But recently, I’ve been convinced that I should get on this thing (Zuckerberg will have Asian American babies and they will need help fighting any glass ceilings they might face). It’s also better than “aol” and where else can I go on the internet? www.amok.com? So I have become a “user.” But still a neophyte. As I adjusted my status from “nothing” to “married,” I was in the wrong update area. And so instead of simply saying “I’m married,” it posted I had a life event and “got married.” This, of course, was news to my wife of 26 years as well. So this is turning into a life event all the same. I am hearing from many people who wish me well. I am grateful for that and I’m sorry to alarm you, though it is a bit like a happier, cyber version of Huck and Tom attending their own funeral. My wife Kathy and I actually eloped and many years ago (26 years this month) and never had a big party, so this is a reminder that when we do get around to that big party, you all can show up on FB and real life. We weren’t registered anywhere for this, so no harm there. I’m just gratified to see so many well wishers and hope this explanation helps straighten things out. And please rest assured, I did not do this to get another column topic. Though, I will add this to my file of “Adventures in learning FB.” This is my personal site where you will get stuff like this.Go to the Emil Guillermo Media fb site to get my other writing. Best to you all, Emil  P.S. and next time I get married, you definitely will be the first to know.

https://www.facebook.com/emilguillermo.media