Mark the calendar. On this date I decided, after a long and determine stubborn streak, to create a Facebook account.  I don’t come to this decision lightly. I believe Facebook is the devil, but I can’t help but respect and marvel at it’s scope and global reach. Friends that I have lost total contact with and that refuse to use email, Twitter, Buzz, etc. are on Facebook. I know a lot of folks from the hood and while none of them have PC’s, they all seem to have smartphones and use those phones to update Facebook. I have lots of friends and relatives overseas that use Facebook. From the deepest, darkest corners of Africa to Asia and South America, if I need to find folks and news Facebook is growing in importance. Don’t mistake this for total capitulation, I’ll still use Buzz because I have forged many lasting relationships there (and it’s built into my gmail inbox). But there are close to 600 Million people on Facebook and even if only 30% of those folks are actively engaged, that is still almost as large as Gmail’s total monthly visitors. With all the publicity Facebook and Twitter are getting with Egypt, Tunisia and now Algeria, I suspect that we could see Facebook reach 1 Billion accounts by years end.  That would be 1/6th of the worlds total population on a social network.  That probably will represent 60% of the free worlds with internet access.  That can’t be ignored any longer.  So I’ll join, if not reluctantly, to see what all the fuss is about.  Bless me father for I am about to sin.
Tune In tomorrow to the Proto Podcast at 7pm MST on FlipZu and Justin.tv.