Whacker, Facebook is only a "popularity contest" if you treat it as such. I prefer to see it as (a) the best way to keep up with feckless friends who change addresses and emails too darn often for me to keep track, (b) a lightweight social checking-in system, and (c) a way to connect with the many ladies in my life who are addicted to it.
It doesn't need to eat your life, it doesn't have to be a whose-status-update-is-bigger contest, it doesn't have to to be a blessed thing that you don't make it.
I used to be completely anti-Twitter, but the Green Revolution in Iran changed my perspective, as did
this site, which appears to be the entire reason Twitter was invented. (WARNING: Link contains old man swearing language and is not safe for work or parents.)