I live a double life. By day I'm Dirk Frazier, the mild-mannered product manager of Screencast.com and Jing, and by night I'm Dirk Frazier, a man of mystery and intrigue... Ok, maybe not so much mystery but I do hang out with my friends at a local pub and take way too many pictures of them with my cell phone. Intrigued yet? I bowl, play golf, read books, listen to music, and watch BBC's Top Gear...all the time. I'm single, I have a dog and two cats to keep me company, like to drink beer and wine on occasion and take photos of my sushi, but all of this shouldn't come as a surprise to you if you know me - or more specifically - if you know me through Facebook. My profile is full of evidence of my full and rich life.

Years ago (and I mean YEARS ago) I lived a similar life but not so "graphically". Trips to the mall with my friends introduced me to programming the Tandy TRS-80 and with every issue of Byte magazine I bought, I read about other computer enthusiasts and their homemade micro-computers. Who didn't want an IMSAI to hack into the high school computer and change their grades? While living in San Francisco, I learned how to connect my computer to a vast network of like minded "users". BBSs like the WELL connected me to information and ideas that were sometimes considered subversive. It's probably no mistake that I was also an amateur radio fan and could only dream of the day when CQ, CQ would turn into ICQ. By the time AOL came along, I was building my own computers, gaming and chatting with Usenet users in the 3dfx.VoodooBanshee group to learn how to get my video card to work with my latest Linux installation. You've got mail was an inside joke that all us nerds could laugh at. I was living a real networked, social life with hobbyists from literally around the world. It's just that my mom wasn't listening in.

Facebook is a social network phenomena that, with close to 400 Million subscribers, is working its way into the mainstream mindset of most Americans, young and old, professionals and consumers. MySpace started to clear the way with its early adopters setting up virtual spaces that let friends make connections and share their musical interests (and other interests we're not going to talk about here). Our parents weren't invited. Twitter came along and let us broadcast our 140 character thoughts to the world as one big stream of (often irrelevant) consciousness. Our bosses weren't invited (at first). Now, Facebook is a combination of group-wise interested networks of friends and family who keep their "followers" updated via their PC and mobile devices. And Facebook is a LOT more complicated than most chat rooms or IRC channels, which is why I was a little nervous when we started thinking about how Jing and Facebook might intertwingle. I should have known that Jing and Facebook were PERFECT for each other. Facebook lets people share their online world with their friends and family - Jing lets you capture your online world. It's only natural that Jing would give you a one-click method for sharing via Facebook exactly what you see and do on your computer.

I don't know where the Jing/Facebook connection will lead us. I hear that the developers down the hall have some pretty fun ideas about leveling up and people keep calling me the King of Jing for some reason. I'm not sure I like the sound of that, but there's no doubt that the future will bring some interesting changes and growth to the wonderful world of Jing.