Death By Facebook

How many of us are into the social networking thing? How many of us actually use it properly and how many share every move they make this way?

Blogging I suppose is a form of social networking, and sometimes we may share more than others want to read, but when I do this I expect you to read me anyway and leave a nice comment, because isn’t this what social networking is all about.

Seriously look at facebook, this has gotten so large that everyone and their dog has a facebook account, I actually have a couple of real dogs asking me to be their friend, I am not degrading anyone, but when a Poodle or a Chihuahua asks to be my friend, I have to wonder just where he learned to type and whose computer is he on.

Some folks get up in the morning and take a picture of their toothbrush, “Status Update: Brushing my teeth” then they take a picture of their breakfast plate including eggs, toast, bacon, and coffee, with a sprig of parsley or whatever green stuff is supposed to make your plate look fancy, “Status Update: eating breakfast with my lovely laptop” “Status Update: just noticed I brushed my teeth too soon” I really didn’t want to see that picture.

I have heard from a few people who are so angry at their friends for getting into their business, this anger stems from comments on their wall about their status updates, now if you don’t want people commenting on your business, then why are you posting it? I actually asked this question and really expect to be defriended soon.

I have witnessed relationship changes that actually changed hourly, if you have an argument with your significant other you change the relationship status, if you make up then change it back, if someone asks you if there is a problem with your relationship, you get mad because they are getting into your business and the only option is to defriend them now.

From sharing a picture of the food you are eating, venting about the fight you are having, the tooth brushing episode, the fake farm, and the real dog that wants to be your facebook friend, these can all be a fun part of the social networking phenomena, but please leave your camera or smart phone on the coffee table when you go into the restroom.

I have a facebook account but rarely use it, I love writing and commenting on blogs, bloggers share their experiences with words and pictures, not hourly status updates, I don’t think fast enough to tweet or check status updates, I would hate to document my every move each day, the public scrutiny of all the friends I have accumulated just because my wife is a virtual farmer is not something I really want.

If I were to die today, my blogging buddies I hope would wonder where I went and reminisce about all of my amazing posts, and if I were addicted to facebook I have a feeling I would be required to take a self portrait as I fell to the floor with a final “Status Update: checking out now, please tend my crop of candy corn before it withers”

Putting yourself out there on the internet is really a big thing, any communication like this adds your pictures and such to the public domain, just think if you make an offhand comment about a friend and want to take it back, face to face you can offer an apology, the off hand comment will always be in the back of your friends mind, but most friends will let it go.

On the Internet these comments have a tendency to go viral so to say, everyone and their dog has read it, every picture good or bad has been viewed, some have copy and pasted it on their pages and it is all of a sudden around the world, you make an apology and some read it and grin but this goes nowhere, and the picture you decide to remove is actually already showing up other places.

Make sure the pictures you share and the information you post is something you don’t mind going around the world, because in fact it just may.

Seriously, be careful what you post because once it’s out there you can never take it back.