Facebook friend follies
posted in Mom Rants, Blogging Rants |If you’ve ever felt like being on Facebook is like being in junior high again, read this recent article by Mary Schmich of the Chicago Tribune. I hadn’t over-analyzed my own Facebook middle school experiences until I got to this part of her article, which said:
As a Facebook neophyte, instinct told me, you don’t want to add too many friends too fast; that would make you look promiscuous and insecure. On Facebook, as in life, you never, ever want to look needy.
Hmmm, that didn’t bode well for me. The night before I extended friend invites to at least 10 randoms who I hadn’t heard from or talked to in at least 10 years. I really want to get to that elusive “200″ friends number. I’m almost there, so who cares if I don’t know why I accepted someone’s friendship and have no idea who she is. I have more friends that way.
According to Schmich, this is the ultimate Facebook-loser move:
I quickly deduced that there’s a fine line on Facebook between being the person who has 1,021 friends because she’s genuinely popular and the one who has 1,021 friends because she’s terrified you’ll think she’s not.
I always thought there was something creepy about the woman who found me randomly and kept e-mailing me to be her friend. She didn’t even have a real photo in her profile. Who needs an avatar when you can use your Facebook profile photo to show off how damn cute your kids are? Don’t lie, you do that too.
I’m full of Facebook follies. Seriously, people. The main reason I even signed up for the site is to show off how great my life is now to my old high school nemesis. Yeah, I was that big of a loser then and yeah, I’m that insecure. Un-friend me, okay? No, but really, the only and I mean only reason I even click on one of my “friend’s” profiles is to see how they look now. Surprisingly, everyone I know actually looks damn good. It is kinda hard to tell in a 100 x 50 pixel photo, but I’ll give ‘em a pass.
Some “friends” of mine actually use Facebook to communicate and catch up. People: isn’t this what e-mail is for? After unsuccessfully trying to make a playdate with an actual real-life friend who I hadn’t seen in 6 months I started to wonder, “did she blow me off?” No, no. She just decided to use Facebook to set up our plans. Oh, how intuitive. Yes, I know you get those e-mail updates from the site, but it’s really too much effort to log onto the site and read them in a timely manner. Getting the gist? I am not sure I’ll ever use Facebook to make (or keep) friends.
For one, I just don’t get all those applications. It was enough that the site knew that I ordered those sneakers from Zappos. (Yes, I know they apologized for that, but it wasn’t enough to keep my husband from making me return them.) Groups? Yeah, they’re fun to be a part of, but other than putting it as a badge, what will I do with being a fan of the best Coney Island restaurant in Detroit other than sulk that I can’t go eat their chili fries on a daily basis?
I may be young in age, but I’m old at heart on the internet. I know I write a blog, but I rarely post photos of myself and none of my family. (At least where you can see their faces). I like engaging, but I also like to keep my distance. Perhaps I’m missing the point of all this social networking and re-connecting, but I’m just not cut out for Twittering, microblogging, Flickring, whatevering. In my online life, I like being in the know and having others know me, but I haven’t yet gotten to that point of bridging the two seamlessly.
And until I can get over making playdates via something called “A Wall,” I probably never will. I guess I won’t be getting to that 200 number that quickly after all.
What are you guys using Facebook for?
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