The revolutionary social networking tool has taken the world by storm when the viral hit us some time in 2007 though it was created in 2004. Without much hesitation, I signed up for a profile and proceeded to add my list of friends to my network. Those who signed up prior to their facelift would know how the incessant pokes became obsessively funny as you throw sheep, cows and progressively earn the right to throw an elephant at your friends or fling a thong at them if you are naughty. Keeping in touch became a constant adjective and not knowing what your friends are doing has become a thing of the past as Facebook updates your friends’ (and yours’) status to reflect their current preoccupation with their cameras/bikes/computers/travel and their lucid and wanton sex lives.
One actually wonders what kind of information is deemed suitable to be shared or rather made public knowledge of if certain privacy controls had not been put in place. Knowing security can be breached and accounts tapped, I scrutinised every fine line in the terms and conditions of use, went through every settings to put controls in place, set up boundaries that prevented bulls from charging through and an electrocution sentence of ”˜blocking’ anyone for breach of moral ethics in my actual circle of friends. I never add anyone I have not met unless it was an introduction from close friends. We would have to have some kind of interaction on forums that have a verified list of members who socialise regularly. Even with that, I get the occasional stalker who would add friends on my list who may be of use to whatever purposes they may harbour or get an obsessed ex-girlfriend of someone whom she thinks I shouldn’t be seeing. Now what would my world be without drama?
As more people jump on the bandwagon of FB-dom, few realise the potential of this remarkable social media networking tool. It’s not just an interface on your browser that tells you who does what, but it’s a media that connects you with people you have lost touch with, make connections with the people that you often do, allow a simultaneous update on the various media platforms that you use such as Blogger, WordPress, Flickr, Picasa, MySpace, Gmail, Twitter, Buzz and so on, using integrated browser tools such as those available on Flock. Some use it to promote their services, which people may never know its existence if not for the suggestions that their friends made. From the pictures uploaded by friends or friends of friends, you may see new discoveries right before your eyes in the comfort of your own home! A friend of mine, an award winning underwater photographer, Tony Wu, is in Tonga to document whales and he’s tagged 15 calf since the day he arrived and what’s great to know is that we have resources to National Geographic lifestyles delivered live to you over Facebook! It’s no longer tedious to sieve through blogs to see what your friends are up to when you get to read an update on your homepage and read further if that tickles your fancy.
Using FB to bridge various groups of friends, keeps everything in one place for better management of communication. Now with some of these actions pertaining to the stuff you can do to your friends ”˜virtually,’ it’s easy to misconstrue their action if you do not take it with a pinch of salt. You should not lose hair, lose sleep and lose relationships over something virtual and what makes your connection with one another real is to have real social outings and physical/emotional bonding sessions with your friends.
Note to the muscular sex:-
Guys, if your girl flips on you over what you did on FB, it’s because you weren’t sensitive enough to her! I can’t teach you what to say or what to do to wrangle yourself out of trouble and appease her but the day you stop working on your relationship is the day you deserve to lose her. A girl derives her self-worth from how much her man loves her (generally as a woman’s biological make-up was built that way) and if you send someone flowers, you better send her a double bouquet. If you’re not learning and adapting from your friends’ successful relationships/marriages, you ought to be whipped. I know you like that, don’t you?
Note to the fairer sex:-
Remember girls, men are wired differently and if they go wild online, it is in their world of make-believe that drives them to do so. If you are still the person he comes home to, you ought to do what it takes to keep him. Whatever the case may be, whoever sends him that virtual flower in a pot, an egg that hatches into a cute animal or a love ice cream, AND he responds to it, take it at face value. He’s trying to be nice to earn brownie points for whatever but he knows YOU are his biggest brownie point so live it!
So the person you had been secretly admiring has given a virtual flower to a drop dead gorgeous chick on his friends’ list who happen to be prettier/sexier/more happening than you, but in reality, what is the level of friendship you have with him? A hello/goodbye one? A see-him-but-can’t-talk kind? Or a deep, meaningful conversations type that carries you through thick and thin? You have your share of guy friends you talk to or connect with and so should he. Life shouldn’t be difficult. We cannot change a person but we can change our perception of things to make us become a better person. If he still doesn’t notice you, it’s time you go out there and make some real connections with people who would value you more than what he can. Then you can add him, tag pictures you take together and let others see what they missed out on. You go, girl!
Facebook is only a tool, it should never be allowed to ruin your relationships. In the course of life, you will find a few who would walk out of your list for whatever reason only known to them but if they are insecure, it should not make you any lesser of a friend to the 99 others who are still on it.
I am one who is true to my friends and would defend someone to death if I know they are being wronged but as much as I would like to keep in touch with everybody, it becomes almost impossible to split my time for each and every friend of mine I deem important in my life. I want to tell all of you that you are very much a part of my life, have helped fashion and shape my situations as much as God had put you there. Please forgive me if I haven’t been poking you in awhile, I have so many issues that need to be dealt with that sometimes I feel like an octopus running out of tentacles. You know that I would love to rock your world as much as you have rocked mine and till our oceans collide, I would have to contend with sending you love ice creams and throwing the occasional sheep at you just so that I can laugh at our times gone by”¦”¦.
