The Facebook phenomenon has hit Taft! Within the last few weeks, a slew of groups posted Facebook pages. You can get their latest updates just by checking your own Facebook page. More will be revealed on getting your very own page, in case you don't already have one.
So, who's on Facebook? Here are the Taft pages I'm aware of as of this writing: Carrizo Plain Visitor Guide, Friends of Taft College Library (FOTCL), Jacks Flower Shop Fan Club, Skydive Taft, Taft California, Taft Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau, Taft College Alumni and Friends, Taft Community Gardens, Taft Crude Coffee House, Taft Fort, Taft Independent Newspaper, Taft Midway Driller, Taft Oildorado Days, The Taft Oilworker Monument, West Kern Oil Museum, West Side Recreation, and Westside Watcher. There are others, including Bakersfield and Kern County pages, but my fingers are tired of typing them.
Whether at home or on the road, all I need to do to get the latest and greatest Taft news is log onto my personal Facebook page and see everyone's updates in one fell swoop. I can also connect regularly with a gaggle of widely scattered relatives and friends, and keep up with my diverse personal interests. If I come across something in The Old Farmers Almanac that begs to be shared, I can post it to my unsuspecting relatives and friends, who may or may not choose to read it. In just a few minutes, I know who sold the farm and what the political pundits are positing without hopping from one Web site to another. Facebook is like a personalized version of Headline News that you read rather than listen to, and it includes pictures of growing nieces and nephews you might otherwise miss.
As mentioned in an earlier Web Wise column, I am a blogger, but I had long resisted the Facebook level of social networking until a couple of nephews finally shamed me into signing on. Now I know that, like so many things, Facebook is what you make of it and can be convenient and useful as well as fun. Privacy settings allow customization, and a lot of control features are built in. Facebook is easy to get started on: just go to www.facebook.com and sign up for a free account. Play with it for awhile. If you don't like it, just go to your account settings and deactivate your account.
I set up the Friends of Taft College Library (FOTCL) page as part of my self-imposed homework while writing this column. I'm still on the learning curve, but it was easy to get started and Facebook provides another means for promoting our fledgling group ("fan" us!). If you have a business or organization to promote, think about joining those listed above by putting your group of Facebook. Shop Taft - and sell Taft!
Mimi Collins recently retired as Taft College Library and Learning Resources Director.