Up & Coming Weekly

4 UCW OCTOBER 14-20, 2009 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM PUBLISHER Bill Bowman bbowman@upandcomingweekly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERS Janice Burton Joy Kirkpatrick editor@upandcomingweekly.com STAFF WRITER Stephanie Crider stephanie@upandcomingweekly.com MARKETING/SALES Tabitha Kidd tabitha@upandcomingweekly.com OFFICE MANAGER Suzy Patterson suzy@upandcomingweekly.com –––––––––––––– GRAPHIC DESIGNER Alicia Miller art@upandcomingweekly.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Soni Martin, D.G. Mar tin, Pitt Dick ey, Margaret Dickson, Bob Cogswell, John Hood, Shanessa Fenner, Stephanie Crider, Erica Gilbert –––––––––––– Up & Coming Weekly www.upandcomingweekly.com 208 Rowan Street P.O. Box 53461 Fayetteville, NC 28305 PHONE: (910) 484-6200 FAX: (910) 484-9218 Up & Coming Weekly is a "Quality of Life" publication with local features, news and infor- mation on what's happening in and around the Fayetteville/Cumberland County community. Up & Coming Weekly is published weekly on Wednesdays. Up & Coming Weekly welcomes manuscripts, photographs and artwork for publication consideration, but assumes no responsibility for them. We cannot accept responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts or material. Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. The publisher reserves the right to edit or reject copy submitted for publication. Up & Coming Weekly is free of charge and distributed at indoor and outdoor locations throughout Fayetteville, Fort Bragg, Pope Air Force Base, Hope Mills and Spring Lake. Readers are limited to one copy per per- son. Subscriptions can be purchased for $30 for six months or $60 for 12 months, delivered weekly by first class mail. ©2007 by F&B Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of editorial or advertisements without permission is strictly prohibited. STAFF Internet Directory ............................ 12 Calendar ........................................... 18 Concert Connection ........................ 25 TV ..................................................... 26 Movie Review .................................. 28 Movie Schedule ............................... 29 Wheelin' Feelin' ................................ 30 News of the Weird ........................... 31 Horoscopes/Advice Goddess ......... 31 Classifieds ........................................ 32 Games .............................................. 34 Dining Guide .................................... 35 INSIDE OK, I get it. Believe me, I understand the concept of "social networking." I understand and concur with its place in the 21st century food chain of communication. I also understand when used and implemented properly it can bring joy into your life. I have experienced that. However, like most things, Facebook has been overdone to a point of abuse. Now we suffer from an electronic and intellectual overload from trying to manage "social" agendas that include a barrages of renegade home and business emails and text messages from accounts like Linkedin, Plaxo, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter... just to name a few. Well, as many failed businesses and organizations will attest, the Internet along with these electronic distractions disguised as contemporary communication vehicles, deliver poor results when used as a primary source of communication, advertising or marketing. In addition, they fall short when it comes to establishing sales, credibility, awareness, a recognizable brand (image) or strong business foundation. After watching Facebook evolve over the past 18 months, I concluded it too will soon be a passing "fad" and slowly dissipate from the cyberspace landscape of communication options. Why? Basically because it is showing signs of redundancy and abuse. Sometimes "enough" is just "enough." Currently, I receive countless Facebook messages every day, and every day I have to deal with them in one way or the other. Mostly, delete, delete, delete. Facebook messages from people I don't know seeking to be my "friend." Messages from dogs, buildings and books wanting to befriend me. People I don't know and who don't know me wanting me to be places, do things, contribute to or support venues I don't know about or care about. I receive a daily flurry of messages from people who really should be working at their jobs not sending me messages in the middle of the day. I even receive multiple messages from the same person. Hey, these folks obviously need to get a life. Four, five, six messages from the same person? These messages are mostly silly, useless and senseless and provide a truer insight and perception of the sender. Believe it or not, not even Facebook people care what you ate for breakfast, what time you went to bed or if your dog went #1 or #2 during its morning walk. Who wants to deal with hundreds of solicitations and invitations from strangers asking for donations or to join causes that may or may not be legitimate. We often complain about privacy? What privacy? Come on folks. In this age of cyber communication anything goes and you can probably expect the worse. You are vulnerable in cyberspace and open yourself up to everything from identity theft to slander to being a victim of a stalker. Stories of stolen FB passwords abound with sad consequences as a result of posted misinformation, embarrassing character assassinations and other horrible misfortunes. As a willing participant you become increasingly vulnerable to thousands of cyber wackos across the universe. And, for what? I've been on Facebook for about a year. I joined basically to keep up with my son would lives and works in New York City. Now, cyber litter, junk and silly stuff has me relegated to checking my account about twice a month. I admit I have no idea what technology is on deck to replace this latest Facebook and social marketing fad. If you are a FB fan, enjoy it while you can, but know, it is in the process of self destruction. At best, we all surly have better things to do. Thank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly. This is your community newspaper. Contact me personally at bbowman@ upandcomingweekly.com or at 910 391 3859. We would love to hear from you. Sound off! Facing Facebook — The Fading Fad by BILL BOWMAN BILL BOWMAN, Publisher COMMENTS? 484-6200 ext. 106 or Bill@upandcomingweekly.com. PUBLISHER'S PEN

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