Facebook Helps Expatriates Stay in Touch
Coming to start a life in a new country isn’t always the easiest experience, and apart from the stress of relocation there can be a sense of social isolation, especially when dealing with a foreign culture.
Facebook is a good way to stay connected to many people you care about back home while at the same time networking with new people, “Gringos” and “Ticos” alike that you meet in Costa Rica. Even if you have been dismissive of Facebook in the past I recommend you take another look at it.
The primary benefit to Facebook is that it simplifies the sharing of personal information with people in your social circle. Some might argue that brief and frequent email messages to all your friends can have the same effect, however I disagree.
Social Networking for Email
There are just some people who won’t read your email, and while they might feel comfortable enough to send a reply it’s usually just the crazy ones who press the “Reply to All” button. The resulting email threads can also be difficult to follow, and Facebook eliminates this problem.
Facebook is particularly powerful in that it’s designed to replace email, so when you sign up be sure to use an email address that you have used frequently. During the setup process it will optionally import your contacts and match those to Facebook profiles. You may then choose which of these to add as “Friends”.
Even if your contact book is small don’t worry because many of your friends who are already on Facebook would have already identified your email address. The system will make friend suggestions for these people as well. You should expect a real blast from the past when you identify your high school class and home town. Also, be sure to identify your current location as Costa Rica in order to make new friends locally.
Control the Flow of Information
Your basic personal information, photos and videos fit into a Facebook “Profile”, and as you publish more information it is written sequentially on your “Wall”. This information is aggregated from all your “Friends” and presented in a “News Feed”.
Your friends can comment on what you publish, and each person can customize how they follow the flow of information. The approach also appeals to personal vanity, which provides a little emotional incentive to stay involved.
When I first used Facebook years ago I was irritated by inane notifications sent through email. The simplest advice I can give to reduce this is to just choose your friends selectively, and don’t add people as “Friends” unless you know them personally or have at least exchanged a few email messages.
The best way to cope with information overload is to change “Notifications” under the “Account Settings” menu. Reduce the email notifications to a minimum that you feel would deserve a prompt response, for example a message sent directly to you or a “Friend Request”.
You can actually turn off email notification for many of these less important actions, and then just cruise Facebook and respond at your leisure. There is a free program called Trillian, which you can use to follow your facebook “News Feed” while not actually on the Facebook webpage. I also use Trillian to follow Twitter, and to centralize Yahoo Messager, Google Talk, and Live Messenger.
Trillian is a really powerful tool and I’ll talk about it in a future article.
Living in Costa Rica is Unique
Living in Costa Rica can unfortunately present security issues if you are visibly wealthy or own substantial property. You might choose to publish a representative image or an out of date photo in your profile. I also recommend that you take a good look at Privacy settings, which substantially limits the amount of personal information available to the public.
Keep in mind that Facebook has been popular among younger Spanish speaking people in Costa Rica for several years now, and it’s becoming more popular. If you have Costa Rican friends in your facebook Profile then you might enjoy seeing the intersection of “Spanglish” in your News Feed.
Finally, if you blog, then you can publish links to your articles on Facebook. It’s a nice way to telling your friends and family about your life in Costa Rica. Be sure to read about the Walled Garden if you have a blog or want to use Facebook as a tool to promote your business in Costa Rica.
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Filed Under: Expat Living
Carol and I wear Facebook out everyday. It's become our main link to all our friends back in the States, plus all of the new contacts we make here in CR. We love it.