the reasons why I have fallen in love with facebook all over again

I have had a love/hate relationship with Facebook since I started using it years ago. All of the changes, rules and fake friend requests drove me nuts until I realized one day - why spend so much time hating on something that is FREE?! People complain about Facebook all the time and I just say, "It's free. Don't use it then." It's really that simple.

And don't even get me started on the elusive "I want attention" posts. Come on, you know those types. We've all been there but man, is it annoying ...

I have gotten in trouble for using Facebook incorrectly before - even been thrown in "Facebook" jail once. Everything is back to normal but I realized that, for me, Facebook is a place where I can catch up with old friends, spy on people from high school and keep in touch with family. It's genius really. And I take it way less seriously than I did in the past.

Lately I have been using Facebook a lot more (I'm on maternity leave and when I was working, I was in charge of my work's Facebook page which - quite frankly - kind of took all the fun out of using it personally). Here are the reasons why Facebook is awesome again:

1. BIDDING SITES - I have seen them before. People list their junk and other people bid on said junk on Facebook. I didn't think much of it until my family decided to plan a garage sale in May. Our house started to look like a junk yard with all the items we were getting ready for the sale so I thought I would check out a local Facebook bidding site and see what it was all about. I am hooked! Over one weekend I listed several items, got a ton of interest but - most importantly - sold stuff! In just one weekend - and a few hours of tracking the site, posting pictures, follow up messages etc. - I made over $200. I'm in love. In fact, as soon as I am done writing this post I am off to list more stuff. Look into it - it's easy, free for you to post and people actually buy stuff and follow through on payment and pick-ups 24/7.
2. SECRET (PRIVATE) GROUPS - I belong to a handful of secret groups on Facebook and visit them each daily. They are a great way for me to stay in touch with a particular group of people in my life without having to navigate through a ton of group emails or texts on my phone. It's an open dialogue just between the members of the group and it's the perfect way to share information. For example, my husband and I attended prenatal classes before our baby was born and were so lucky to stay in touch with all the other families. I am in touch with the other moms on a weekly basis and we started a group - Rockstar Moms - to stay in touch, share articles, brainstorm sleep issues, etc. And all the information stays put for future reference too. Another great idea Facebook (ahem - Mark) - thank you!
3. CONNECTING - I have made a handful of new "friends" on Facebook over the past few months who I never would have connected with without Facebook, and who I will probably never meet in person. Recently I have connected with fellow bloggers, other new moms, people who live in my neighbourhood, old high school buddies ... the list goes on and on. As mentioned, I will probably never see any of these people in the real world (some live in other countries even) but because of Facebook, I consider them friends and know where to find them if I have a question about a subject that connects us.

There's a wealth of information to be found, connections to be made and opportunities to be had using Facebook. I might not be in love with it forever but hey, it's free and for now, it works for me. Do you love or hate Facebook?