Why I Registered on Facebook

Biographical

Please note: John Lemeul is a pseudonym, a pen name. Therefore, no biographical information is available other than what the original publisher of the essay, The Chronicle of Higher Education, provided: "Lemeul" is a "professor at a small liberal-arts college in the Midwest."

Cultural:

Carmela Ciuraru has written a book on people using a "nom de plume" throughout history. See this excerpt and the book review for some intriguing information.

Do you truly need a pen name? Should you wish to choose one, here is some advice.

Read the musings of a writer whose publisher introduced the idea of her using a pen name this way: "Don't take this the wrong way, but it's your name. It's just not right. We need to change it. Your first name and your surname, I'm afraid."

Facebook has evolved since its launch and since the time Lemeul's essay was published. Does the timeline strike you as fast? Slow? Typical?

Is there a limit to the number of relationships one person can sustain? Dunbar's Number has become a reference point for many who think and write about this question. Hear what Robin Dunbar himself has to say.

Stanford professor Paul Saffo provides advice on using Facebook. How do you think Lemeul would react to this advice?

Has the novelty worn off Facebook and social media in general? Hear what Professor Paul Saffo and others have to say.

Lemeul uses rhetorical questions within his essay. Read what Paul Brians, a professor emeritus at Washington State University, has to say about rhetorical questions.

Bibliographical

As in the biographical section above, no identifying information is available on this author; thus, no additional works by or about him can be collected here.