Facebooking Election Night

I’ve been a skeptic about social networking tools. I think MySpace requires too much effort, I really don’t think everyone should have their own blog (and I even question having my own) and I never understood the point of Twitter.

Until last night.

I watched election results with a small gathering of friends in Boulder and it was great to share the evening with several people I’m close to. But it was nothing compared to the online community that was created through Facebook and Twitter.

The very large majority of the time I agree that no one really needs to know my status. Do I need to announce to the world that “Paige is watching TV,” or “Paige is working,” or “Paige is contemplating whether parallel universes really can exist”? No. But last night was different. With everyone updating their statuses on Facebook and Tweeting and Twittering away, it was like being at a huge national election party. I not only got to share the historic evening with close friends who live near to me, but with close friends who live far away. I’m sure I annoyed many with my constant updating (“CNN calls Pennsylvania for Obama!” “Colorado looks like it’s going blue!”), although a few friends wrote to say they appreciated it. In any case, both tools created an amazing nationwide community that was personal, political, national, local and overall, jubilant.

My only complaint is that virtual attendance never beats live attendance and I sure wish I could have been hanging with Oprah in Grant Park last night or dancing in front of the White House in D.C.

Still I can finally say that I get what all the fuss has been about. Tweet!