Facebook may be the most important website of my life right now.
Sure, Google is important (how would I find anything on the wild and untamed Internet without you?) and there are specialized websites, like Wells Fargo, that handle my financial transactions without which life would be much more inconvenient.
But Facebook is a site that I visit every day and it is a self-contained microcosm of everything important that happens in my life. My moment-to-moment Twitter thoughts are cross-posted to Facebook, and I get far more comments on Facebook than replies on Twitter. My daily blog entry is imported into Facebook, where I (once again) get far more comments than on my actual blog’s website.
I learn about high school friends getting married on Facebook, co-workers getting engaged on Facebook, current events and today’s zeitgeist on Facebook. It’s the first place I go if I need a cell phone number or for a picture of someone’s new baby.
I don’t spend hours on the site each day, but I find it somewhat exciting that one website can add a layer of social interaction and connection that elevates my daily actions and thoughts from personal to communal. This is especially exciting because only a scant decade ago, this would have been impossible.
So here’s to you, Facebook! Despite your shady ads that use profile pictures, always evolving and somewhat complicated privacy settings, and annoying games that post items to the news feed once a minute, I like you and hope that our future relationship continues to be agreeable.