Gerald C. Matics -- Author

Hello.  My name is Gerry, and I'm addicted to Facebook.  And it's all my sister's fault.

That's right, me.  Rarely drink, don't smoke, never did drugs in my life, avoid video games like they're telemarketers.  I'm addicted to Facebook.  My sister Emily -- a fantastic artist, by the way -- invited me to join in November.  I haven't had any spare time since.

Facebook is a shining example of what's being called Web 2.0, where everyone can play and no one has to ride the bench.  There are probably hundreds of these so-called social networking sites popping up all the time, some of which are geared toward teens, some toward professionals, some toward people with the attention span of fruit flies (yeah, I'm talkin' to you, Twitter).  Facebook has something for all these audiences and more.

Bearing in mind that I've only been on Facebook for a number of weeks and there's a lot of unexplored territory out there, here's a thumbnail version of the basics.  You surf to www.facebook.com and create a profile.  The site asks you for some vitals: name, hometown, birthday, marital status, contact info, what you want to get out of Facebook (e.g., friendship, dating, professional networking) and so forth.  It also asks more personal stuff like your political and religious views, activities, favorite books/movies/TV shows, school and professional history and more.  Answer what you like, don't answer what you're not comfortable with, stretch the truth like Silly Putty -- it's entirely up to you how much or little you want to share.  You can then go on to post pictures or videos, among other things.

The fun starts when you search for people you know on Facebook and invite them to connect with you as friends.  Once your friend confirms you, you'll be able to see his or her other friends as well, and vice versa.  No matter who you are, I promise you will be surprised at least once to find out who you know is also on Facebook, and you'll find yourself going through other people's friends lists to see who else you know and want to connect with.  And of course, once your profile is up, people from your past will be crawling out of the woodwork like the bugs in The Lost Weekend coming for Ray Milland.  (If you're worried about privacy, rest assured that you can restrict access to any or all of your personal information, photos, etc. about seven different ways.)

Be warned, though:  this site hooks you like a mackeral (hence "Facehook") and won't let go.  I'm still a newbie and have only about 30 friends, but I've seen others who are only a few degrees of separation from me with literally more than a thousand.  It can take awhile to check out all of those people individually, I'll admit, but Facebook gives you tools like the Wall -- basically an electronic bulletin board -- to help you do it more efficiently.

(Brief pause to look at my Wall.  Distraught expression caused by no one writing on it yet today.)

Entertainment Weekly ran an article a week or two ago naming its 25 Entertainers of the Year, and Facebook ranked a solid number 20 on the list -- ahead of Katy Perry, who kissed a girl; ahead of Neil Patrick Harris, who (presumably) kissed a boy; ahead of Michael Phelps, who only won more gold medals in Beijing than 196 out of 205 countries.

(Phelps, by the way, has 1.63 million Facebook "fans" -- not the same as friends, but you'll have to log on to find out how).

I realize this reads like a commercial for Facebook, but really it's a commercial for me since I'm inviting you to join me there -- here's a link to my Facebook page  -- and after that, we can all meet in Facebook Anonymous.