When one thinks of Facebook, a lot can come to mind: college kids, embarrassing pictures, giant wastes of time, or – God help us all – FarmVille. But Facebook has become so much more than that, if used properly. Facebook is a platform for a lot of good things, but unfortunately, a lot of potential is wasted. For example:

Waste of Time #1: Games where you play by yourself.

Remember those stupid little Tamagotchi things? The video pets that people carried around a few years ago? Would you walk around with one of those things? Pressing buttons to feed it and clean up when it poops and all that? No? So why are we doing this on Facebook?

I love a good game, I really do. But it’s one thing to play a game on Facebook, and it’s another to be obsessed with one. Hop on, play for a few minutes, and then get on with your life.

Waste of Time #2: Pokes.

“Hey, somebody poked you.” “Now what?” “Let’s poke him back.” Yay.

Waste of Time #3: Pointless Groups/Fan Pages

I’ve actually seen a Facebook page for fans of “Not Being on Fire”.

However, after all of this, I think Facebook is a very powerful platform, and can be one of the most useful tools for communication on the internet today. In fact, after I check my email, I do hop on Facebook for a few minutes. Here are some ways you can be involved in Facebook without being a “Facebook Stalker” or a flat-out geek:

Do play games with friends.

Facebook is a great platform for games where you interact with people. It’s fun to play card games, bowling, and board games with people without having to lug around the actual game wherever you go and accidentally offending Ukranians.

Pictured: Why Facebook was invented.

Games are a great way to interact and have a good time. Plus, many of them involve using a little brain power, like Scrabble, which is good for you.

Be friends with your actual friends.

Nobody cares about your number. No one. You’ve got 782 Facebook Friends? Yippee. I’ve got real friends.

Be friends with people you at least kind of know. Nothing is lamer than people who are friends with everybody that Facebook suggests just because they want to look cool. Be friends with people you want to communicate with.

Use it to connect with friends far away.

There was a time when you had to write a letter and hand it to a guy on a horse with a flask and hope that it made it to your friend. Now? All you have to do is click their name and start typing. I’ve got friends in Arizona, Green Bay (but she’s coming HOME!!), Chicago, Florida, Taiwan, California, and New Mexico. You get the idea.

If this were a past time period, I’d lose touch with these people. I’d run into them at high school reunions and we’d talk about old times and marvel at how old we look and how many kids we have. Now, I can still share my life with these people, even if they’re far, far away. It’s awesome, and it gives me chills when I think about it.

Share important photos and snapshots of your life.

These are people you care about, right? So you want them to see photos from your latest trip! When I went on my first trip to Taiwan, I took a boatload of pictures, and then I had to take them to three different households and present them, retelling the same stories over and over again.

On my second trip, I stayed overnight in a hotel in Los Angeles, and I loaded up all the pictures into photo albums and captioned them that night. Now, they can look at them at their own leisure, and I don’t have to repeat myself over and over again. Moments that you want to remember forever are great to share with the people you love.

Don’t go overboard with the status updates – make them count.

If you have an interesting story, anecdote, or joke, post it on your status. If you’re just hopping on to talk about how much your life sucks, why don’t you wait a minute? Nobody wants to hear about it. Save it for a conversation. And on that note…

Remember that some things are best in-person or on the phone, not on Facebook.

The night my fiancé and I got engaged, we spent over two hours driving around while on the phone, notifying our closest friends and family that we were getting married. Why? We wanted to beat Facebook to the punch. We knew that, had we gone to bed that night without doing so, somebody important was going to find out via Facebook, and we didn’t want that.

That also goes for things like relationship problems and discussions, big job announcements, and pregnancies. Pick up the phone and call somebody first. Let that human touch shine through a little.

Use it as your “Throbbing Brain”.

I stole the term “throbbing brain” from morning radio show guys Bob and Brian, here in Milwaukee on 102.9 FM. When they need an answer, they go to the “Throbbing Brain”, which basically means they ask the listeners to provide the answer.

Looking for a car? A killer Blackberry app? Opinions on wedding halls? Post the question to your status and watch the responses pour in. The beauty of it: these are people whose opinions actually matter to you.

Replace the world’s most annoying invention: Forwards.

Found something you like? Instead of emailing it to everyone you know and clogging up their inbox, just use the Share on Facebook button. Now, anybody you care about can see it, and the people who don’t want to read it won’t resent you so much.

It’s easy to get caught up in the time-suck qualities of Facebook. But use it to your advantage, and it can be one of the most important communication tools you will ever use.

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