Am I the only one that sits confused when reading through Facebook updates? Last year I joined up really out of curiosity, but it wasn't long before my mailbox was deluged with invitations to take quizzes, play games, answer questions about myself, or to find out about my inner vegetable. I get a lot of email as it is - I mean a LOT and that's after the spam filters have sieved out the penile enlargement ads, 419 scams and invitations to buy as many hard core tranquilisers as I could possibly eat.
Since Facebook started, third party applications have popped up everywhere, whether it's so that you can tell people what you've read, films you've seen, or to play games and spread memes. Once you sign up for one, invites are spread and you get updates, referrals etc etc. Rather innocently, I got involved and before you know it, your home page looks like the dog has thrown up over it and you're getting more and more mail. Eventually of course, I learned my lesson. It took me a while, but I worked out how to turn off applications and to set it so I didn't get emails for an invites to every single application that someone had clicked the box that sends it to all their friends; which to be absolutely honest, cheered me up no end.
Back to my original point (you mean there was a point?), when I read through the status updates section and I see the groups people have joined, it has started to make me wince. On the whole, people don't take social networking sites that seriously (though my other half has checked up on her employees more than once - you've been warned folks!) and people create groups like a campaign to bring back Spangles,to advertise their love for chocolate covered bacon or one of my own favourites to Bring Back Hartley Hare. This is all just whimsy (except for the Hartley Hare one - which is deadly serious of course), but there is an element out there that seem to be using it to advertise their fascist leanings. whether it's a campaign to expel non-whites from the UK, string up sex offenders, gaybashing or promoting aryan purity. I suppose in this age of internet anonymity and emotional freedom, people think it's ok to say what they like. Yeah, right?!?
Also, just of late I've been "friended" by a bunch of old school "chums". This in some ways is good. Since I moved out of the area, I've had no opportunity to catch up with anyone. It's probably why I joined Facebook in the first place to be honest. Some I remember fondly (they'll know who they are), others I wasn't at all fond of (again I'm sure they'll know who they are), whilst the rest were those whose names rang a vague bell, but as far as knowledge about them and any memories I had, maybe they rested amongst a group of neurons that expired when I drank too much port one night. Sorry, I forgot you. It's nice you remember me, I suppose. Then again, maybe they don't, maybe they just got referred on etc etc. Maybe I'm just one of a thousand Facebook email updates they got one morning. If they get as far as clicking the note on my page linking them to this post, I suspect they will "unfriend" me (oh the shame!). Since there is only one of them that I kept in any real contact with after 1986, I guess it won't be a terrible loss. Then again, Facebook seems to be about how many friends you have, as though it is a measure of you quality and value as a human being. Maybe they'll keep me for now.
There are of course a few people (who I haven't found on Facebook) who I'd like to know about. There's one I have some vague information about, while another good friend I had at school died tragically, nearly two years ago. I guess most of them, unlike me, are far too sensible or have rich enough lives that they have no need of Facebook. Who knows?
Finally, as a handful of you may or may not know, I've got into Twitter. It's a lot easier than standard blogging and has the advantage of not getting invitations and emails. Of course, if you're not on Twitter already, please join and add me to your "followed" list. That way I'll have some idea of the measure of my quality and value as a human being - because being popular is everything to me. There have some peculiar things happen. I subscribed to a political blogger and all of a sudden I'm being followed by a couple of other political bloggers. I tweeted (oh yes that's technospeak folks) Kate a few days back and I seem to remember mentioning the Muppet Show. I'm now being followed by Fozzie Bear. I don't know if it's the real Fozzie Bear, or whether he uses TweetDeck or not. I daren't mention them again in my twitterings as I may end up being followed by Lew Zealand, which would just be surreal. It's bad enough that I'm being followed by a Transformer as it is - and I don't even know anything about Transformers. I certainly didn't mention them on Twitter.
Anyway, it's all keeping me amused for now - well when I'm not doing my usual stuff anyway. I'll try to resist the temptation to find out which Cliff Richard song or Bond villain I am and try not to cause any more trouble for now.
Don't Forget to Catch Me Francisco Scaramanga.
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