Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Things I don't understand #65...


...the facebook.

Ok, so I get that it's a "social networking" site, but do any of us know what that really means? And I even get how it works(to a certain extent), but most of my time spent on the site seems to involve me thinking,"Is this what I'm actually supposed to do?" I thought impersonal electronic interaction was supposed to remove uneasiness. Yet, it seems we've just added an entirely new category of social tension. I've had to institute a whole new protocol to ensure I maintain a respectable level of facebook etiquette. I.e., anyone who wants to be my facebook friend gets to be my facebook friend, providing they've supplied a profile picture(got to make sure they're committed). This rule had to be implemented because so many people who wanted to be my facebook friend where never actually, well, my friend. I currently have 96 friends on facebook(yes, I'm well aware I'm a loser), yet a quick survey revels less than half of those have ever been my friend at any time and at any loosely defined level. And of those, I have a current relationship with less than half. Now, some people who I don't really know I actually wouldn't mind knowing, but I don't...yet, we're "friends". It's all so confusing.

There's also a myriad ways of communicating just via facebook. You can use "the wall", but there's also the inbox which works essentially like email. And there's always the status updates, which allow you not only to let people know what you're up to, but comment on what other people are up to. I've had conversations with people using all three methods, but what's the preferred method? (And sometimes people mistakenly leave a message on your wall about your status instead of just commenting on it. Talk about confusion!) And what do people want on their wall? I guess what I want to know is, how many of these methods can I use to ask a girl out? Ok, I want to retract that, or redact it, or something. I'm sorry.

Plus, I'm having a little trouble reconciling this new social contract I've apparently entered into with the fact that everyone seems to agree that the facebook is a complete waste of time. Don't get me wrong, I love it. But I'm not sure why. Plus(and this is probably just something that effects me), haven't I just found another way to disappoint and offend people? It's a gift, I know. But I'm good enough at it when people can actually hear the inflection in my voice. I guess it's just another occupation hazard of always having to carry this acerbic wit wherever I go, but I digress. All I'm saying is, the facebook? Good...and well, bad...oh, and welcome to facebook week.

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