Saturday, March 6, 2010

facebook and random folks

"Facebook friend" is an odd term. I'm "friends" with a lot of people that I only casually know, or folks that I knew in high school but probably won't ever see again. So it's a loose term at best.

The funny thing about Facebook, though, is that it lets you get to know someone without ever really having to talk to them via what I like to call Facebook stalking. People post information about themselves on their profile page, pictures of their families, and status updates that let you know in real time how they're doing. As their "friend," I have access to all this and can look at it whenever I want and they don't even know I'm there.

All the time I see updates from people that in real life I hardly know but of whom I have intimate Facebook knowledge. And the knowing leads to caring so I have thoughts like, "I'm so happy that So And So is engaged!" and "Man, I'm sad that What's Her Face is having a rough day," and even "Wow! The Ugly One has some really cute kids!" (Okay, I don't really call anyone "The Ugly One." That's just a Teen Girl Squad reference.) But I don't actually let them know I'm thinking about them, because stalking implies stealth and besides, I don't really know these people. It would be weird....

2 comments:

jill said...

facebook is weird.

Leslie said...

Okay, here's what's really weird. I'm not even your Facebook friend but you must've ... joined the same group as a bunch of my friends (the ward connection, you know) and I saw your profile and clicked on it because...it's what I do, okay?

So now I'm here and you were just talking about how creepy it is and how you don't tell people that you're thinking of them when you don't know them.

I guess I am a creepy stalker that reads your blog and clicks on your Facebook profile. And then tells you about it.