22 July 2008

"Hello, My Name is Jessica, And I Am a Facebook Freak."

I'm excited that more members of my social media team are entering the blogosphere and establishing a presence online. The latest is Jessica Savage, who like Sallie can also be found on Twitter (@jcsavage) and is starting a new blog project of her own - I'll leave it to her to develop an appropriate roll-out plan but I'm looking forward to much reading and linking.

Jessica is an avid user of Facebook and wanted to share some experiences about anti-social behavior on the popular social network. I hope to see more contributions from Jessica, Sallie and others on my team - here or wherever they choose to rant.

Hello, my name is Jessica, and I am a Facebook Freak. After a few years of using, I have over 700 friends. I cannot start my work day until I’ve “checked in.” Thank goodness I have a boss that if not supportive of, at least understands that behavior.

I consider myself a Functioning Facebook Freak, though: I have rules, and processes.

- I make sure I’m tagging interesting, flattering photos at least once a quarter. Each has a cute, witty caption for my readers’ enjoyment and is tagged appropriately.

- I do not sign up for Facebook applications that require me to send them to other people, unless they are for a charitable cause. If chosen, I stagger my invite list: I only send a few invites out at a time, and I don’t send applications to people that I’ve just become friends with.

- Despite what the 700 friends might suggest, I don’t friend strangers. I spend lots of time looking at the “you might know” list, but rarely friend the people on it. As far as I can tell, Facebook generates that list from who’s been tagged in photos with your friends.

My pet peeves involve those who do not follow the rules above. Which is why I was so annoyed this morning at Jack Skater. Jack “friended” me Friday, but did not have any pictures on his profile. That name did not ring a bell, so I messaged him and asked him how we knew each other. He sent the following, verbatim, in return:

"I only have one Pic and I dont think we have [met;] me I am adding people so they can read my Poetry and quotes thats all this profile is. It is to get my Poems out there and hopfully read and commented on so I dont put my pics up. I am keeping this one strickly Poetry[.]"

Perhaps someone should teach young Skater the idea behind Social Media. Why would I care about what he’s written if he won’t share something about himself in return? I spend countless hours trying to make my profile cute and interesting, and he can’t bother being honest about who he is?

Poor Skater, I actually feel bad for him. I might be a Functioning Facebook Freak, but he’s clearly too self-concious sharing his poetry with people that actually know him on his “real” profile, for fear of… who knows.

Is this just me taking Facebook too seriously, or would/does this annoy you, too?

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