An acquaintance of mine had a baby last night (well, actually at 4 am!). I know that she was in labor as soon as it happened. She didn’t call me or send me a text message; I just happened to see it on Facebook.

I haven’t seen this acquaintance for more than 10 years, and I would never have known about the pregnancy if not for Facebook. I knew when a cousin got married, even though I haven’t seen him since my great-grandfather’s funeral in 1991. I know things about the lives of people with whom I have had no substantive contact in more than a decade, and it’s all because of Facebook.

Facebook has become a vital communications link for me. I check it in the morning…at lunch…before I go to bed. In fact, I checked it so often that, when I upgraded my cell phone, I got a BlackBerry so that I could have Facebook Mobile (along with email; I’m addicted to email!). Facebook is the new telephone – but BETTER!

This got me to thinking about the importance of this new media, and whether the “relationships” we have over social media are actually real. Would I have anything to talk about with these folks if I was in a coffee shop with them? Does the fact that we are connected to each other through Facebook make us “friends” or mere acquaintances??? Is my relationship with my Facebook friends more humanly (word?) meaningful than my in-person interactions with people that I don’t really care for in person???

Hmmm…………