Facebook

I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook.

Back in early 2007, a friend of mine suggested I try out Facebook. "You'll LOVE it!" she gushed. I told her I did not need yet another addiction in my life, thankyouverymuch.

I can't recall whether it was her repeated insistence (harping?) or my own curiosity, but I finally checked it out. At first I thought it was the lamest thing ever. But after the first few weeks, I was hooked.

There were few people I looked for that I couldn't find. Grade school friends. High school crushes. Old work colleagues. Relatives. As the months went by and more and more people joined, I reconnected with more long-lost people.

What fun.

I loved being able to reconnect with people I'd lost touch with over the years because "life happened". It's fun to look at the profile of that kid who was your best friend in kindergarten and seeing that she's a mom now. Or being able to answer that "I wonder whatever happened to..." question.

I'm not gonna lie... I loved learning that "that guy" who I had a major crush on in high school not only remembered me 20+ (*choke*) years later, but remembered me fondly. Or that my first boyfriend that cheated on me with she-who-will-remain-nameless is still in the exact same job as he was when we were just teenagers, doing the exact same crap he was doing then. But best of all was seeing that the most popular girl in high school that all the boys drooled over, peaked in highschool.

With Facebook's handy status line I am able to keep up with what's happening in people's lives. I enjoy seeing their pictures.

As of today, I have 212 friends on my Friend List. It feels like a nice, round number. It used to be higher, but it needed a little housekeeping.

So I mentioned it's a love/hate thing. So far I've just talked about what I love about it. There is a lot that I don't love about it.

Poking: What's with the poking, people?? What does that mean anyway? Hey how are you? I'm still here? I'm trying to annoy you? What is the purpose? I'll admit it...I used to be a poker. But I'm now a Former Poker. Stop poking me please!

Status Lines: Do I need to know that you are hungry? Or that you hooked up with some hot babe at the club last night? Do I need to know that you are cross with someone but instead of telling them directly you're going to broadcast it in your status? Oh and the grammar.... "Mary Sue Smith is gone to the store". No Mary Sue.... your status should read "Mary Sue Smith HAS gone to the store".

I especially love (eye roll) is "Mary Sue Smith is sad/angry/can't believe it!, etc. All for the purpose of attention, so that people will fall over themselves to ask what's wrong with Mary Sue Smith!! We're all adults.. if there is something wrong, come out and say it already. Don't hint.

Sigh.

Quizzes: Oh sweet mercy, the quizzes. Those annoyances clog up my entire feed and they are just ridiculous!! And do these quiz addicts even look at the quizzes they are taking or read the results before they post them to their wall for everyone on their friends list to see? Especially ones with graphic adult content. To the friends that do this, I am embarassed on your behalf.

Group Invites: Please don't invite me to a funeral using this method. 'Nuff said.

I don't care when Facebook makes changes to it's applications. It's a free service and I'm happy to use it. I would like to see the Limited Profile make a return, however. You know, for those people that I wish I could remove but would hate the confrontation that would come with it. That way they would only see what I wanted them to see.

And that, my friends, is all I have to say about that.