I’ve had a Facebook profile since early 2006, the middle of my senior year of high school. Earlier this year, I did all I could to quit Facebook without actually leaving: I removed all personal information from my profile and hid what I couldn’t or didn’t want to delete entirely, including photos of me and posts on my wall. I left a note under the About Me section: “I got bored of Facebook, so I’m off for a while.”

Most people who have commented about the move don’t believe me: they believe I had become excessively consumed by Facebook, and so to correct my behavior I did what I could to cut it from my life. Really, though, bored is what I was. I didn’t check it much, and I didn’t like having to keep up with communication or developments on Facebook. So I left, for the most part.

I’ve kept my profile up and my contact information visible so people don’t forget about me and so they know how they can reach me, if not on Facebook. In the past, I’ve gone through my Facebook friends to remember things such as who to invite to an event (in the real world, not online), and I didn’t want to be skipped over the way I’ve skipped over friends who don’t exist on the site. Similarly, I want my email address and phone number to be easily accessible to the people I know. Keeping a minimalist profile was the happy medium I reached.

But while I’ve lost affection for the site, it’s still growing in popularity, to the point where today a Facebook profile is necessary not only for students, but even for (often minor) celebrities like musicians and politicians. And though Facebook is no longer for me, I can recognize that some good is coming from Facebook’s taking over and revolutionizing our society’s socializing. Today’s evidence: Gen. Wesley Clark.

The story in brief: the general said John McCain’s experience as a POW doesn’t qualify him to be president, the McCain camp shot back, Barack Obama criticized Clark for his comment, and Clark defended himself–on Facebook, through his status. While teens everywhere are professing to be “OMG soooo hung over,” Clark “knows that John McCain is largely untested and untried when it comes to national security matters.” Screen shot here, thanks to Politico’s Ben Smith.

Wes Clark and Facebook score points.