Facebook Thoughts
Thursday, May 1, 2008 at 
4:11 pm ()
Facebook is weird.
I am not a huge fan of Facebook. In fact, Facebook is lucky if I log on once a month. Recently, however, I’ve had more people requesting to be my friend and such. People from high school that weren’t even my friends or people I barely talked to suddenly want to be my “friend” on Facebook. Why? So they’ll be able to boast that they have 200+ friends and need little ol’ me to push their friend count higher? Do they have any intention of establishing a meaningful relationship with me? Are they just bored and adding everyone they’ve ever known regardless if they even like that person or not? It all seems a little silly to me.
I usually don’t add people to my friends list on any site unless I know them from somewhere whether it’s real life or an online community like The Quilting Bee. This week though, I’ve added a few new “friends” to my Facebook, all of whom I went to school with at one time or another. Once of which was never really a “friend” of mine. I barely spoke to her the whole time we went to high school together, although we did have a few classes together. I decided to be nice and go ahead and add her (out of curiosity mostly). Last night I spent some time looking through her photos on Facebook, and it was indeed confirmed that she married this guy we went to school with. They dated in high school (and they were sort of this odd couple), and are now married and appear to have a daughter. I felt kind of slimy looking at her photos. It was like I was spying on her life or something. It felt sort of uncomfortable. After it was all over, I felt kind of bad that I had wasted 20 minutes or so of my life that I will never get back.
Let me just add in here that I haven’t really stayed close friends with anyone from high school. I really had no desire or need to. Does that make me an awful person? Were my friends really my friends if I don’t even associate with them now? On the flip side of the creepiness of looking through people’s photos, I did have two girls add me as their friend on Facebook, and it was kind of nice to hear from them and how they remembered good times we had in high school. One congratulated me on my marriage and wanted to know what I’ve been up to for the past 7 years. I just still find the whole concept of Facebook a little bizarre, and it’s kind of a more upscale MySpace in my opinion.
What do you think about Facebook? Do you add everyone you know to your friend list, or do you just add people you are friends with? Do you use Facebook to satisfy your curiosities about people you used to know? Why would someone want to have over 200 “friends” on Facebook if they don’t even know, like, or care about some of them?
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Filed in: Random, Websites ()
11 Comments so far
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Hev scribbled this note on May 1st, 2008: 
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I deleted my Facebook & MySpace account. I am never on there & I was tired of having sites that I belonged to that I never used, lol.
BTW, would you email me your mailing address & birthday? I am trying to get a list together for cards and such.
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I emailed ya!
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When I was travelling, Facebook saved my life. I had a weird schedule, and was in a different time zone, so being able to get all my messages, and know what was going on at home in the 10 or so minutes of free computer time I had was endlessly useful! There were also less (as in, none, and the a few near the end) applications, and everything was pretty clean and neat. Now, I use it, but I don’t necessarily enjoy it. I just do it quickly, and move on, pretty much.
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I don’t see the point in Facebook really… I’ve boycotted it and I just love telling people (when they ask for my facebook) that I don’t have one, the look on some of their faces is priceless! I do use bebo (or used to) and myspace though, and I get really annoyed when people I’ve seen less than five times in my life add me, I do like to add people I’ve met on there though, after I’ve talked to them for a while, its a good way to meet cool new people.
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People have added me on Facebook just to up their friends count. They never speak to me. Whenever I leave a message, they never respond. I have “friends” wanting to add me, but they’re all the same. I have considered deleting my Facebook account, but I keep in touch with a few close friends on there so I keep it open.
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I don’t use Facebook, but I had the same with Bebo a few years ago. People I’d never even talked to added me to their friends, just because they ‘needed’ to get their friend count higher. I knew OF them, but had never even made eye contact with them at school.
I don’t think it makes you an awful person having not kept friends with people from school. I’m not planning to keep in contact with anyone.. tbf I’d be more than happy to get away from some of them! xD
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I love Facebook. It’s nice to keep up with people - even if it’s not really through direct contact with them. Everyone is so busy that, even if it’s a bit weird, it’s just easier to look at their news feed. After high school everyone goes everywhere and I just think it’s kinda fun to see, hey, so and so is getting married, and this person is going on a trip to Australia, etc., etc. I suppose it’s all a bit stalkerish, but oh well lol
I’m very elitist, I suppose, with who I add as friends. I’ve had random girls adding me from my high school who will graduate high school the same year that I graduate college - and I personally think it’s all really stupid. I only want to add people who I want to keep up with, people who I’m interested in what they’re up to. I actually regularly “prune” my friends list for people that haven’t bothered to keep in touch, or people that I don’t find interesting. (Maybe that’s mean? … oh well haha)
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Hmm.. i dont think your reaction is wrong or anything. i dislike facebook, and i never even had one untill a month ago. I was talking to a friend, who basically said, well.. just post your comic links and at the very least, you might get some more readers! so that’s why i finally made one. but i didnt search anyone out. And in the last month i’ve had 100 or so req’s.. about half of them are work friends or family/friends. but the rest? are just people from highschool i barely knew… and i just want to say, um.. it’s been 8 years and i havent spoken or thought of you in all that time.. why are you friending me? i too am like you, i havent kept in touch w/ them either. i’m very happy w/ the small amont of people in my life. my close family and loved ones are all i need.
in regards to accepting these requests? i just cave and add them all cause i only log on to post comic links, so ./shrug. it creeps me out to see everyone tho… sometimes when you move on in life… you move on and it’s natural. trying to make small talk w/ people i barely talked to 10 years ago. i can barely handle the people i talk w/ now, let alone people i don’t care about. i guess that makes me sound a little mean
but i’m not! i’m just anti-social ~_~ -
Yeah, I don’t really like Facebook either. It really confuses me on how to use it. Plus I don’t really have that many friends and they’re all already on Myspace. So, I pretty much just use Myspace, even if it’s not that much.
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Other than my one friend Sabrina, I haven’t really kept in touch with anyone from highschool either. However, I do like facebook. I enjoy looking at friends’ photos, and sometimes it’s easier to write on someone’s wall with a, “we should hang out. Call me.” than to call them myself.
I know that sounds weird.
But that is how I feel.I like having even people I didn’t know too well on my friends list because I take an unhealthy interest in what people are doing with their lives. It’s fun to see how the fat kid is now the head of a major corporation. Or whatever.
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I like facebook. It’s a good way to communicate with people you were close to in high school (especially since I seem to be half a country away from everybody now) and everyone else can just be put on limited profile. Another reason I like facebook is because it’s a great way to network and get information; I’ve seen 5 free movie screenings because an acquaintance invited me to a facebook group. I guess there’s a plus to every negative.
Ashley scribbled this note on May 1st, 2008: 
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