You, my Facebook friend...
After a few years using Facebook, I have finally figured out what works for me and what doesnt. Obviously, what follows is an extremely subjective and personal opinion (it is my blog afterall) but I thought I would share it here. If it appears condescending or vilifying, it is not meant to be so. With the ground rules set, here we go.Like it1. Rooting for your sports team or favorite player in Facebook is a lot of fun. It is a great uniter and every time a big game was on, Facebook was a de-facto location to be. The game must surely go on.2. Sharing wonderful articles seems to be a great Facebook thing. I love some of the articles people link to. I wound never have got to it on my own. The comments that follow only make it more enjoyable. Movie reviews are most welcome as long as they are spoiler free.3. That cool cake or dish you made is always nice to see. That awesome picture you took deserves a wider audience. That new place you visited is one I would like to go to. If you wrote a note or a page, I will read it if I have the time. And yes, thanks for sharing it.4. Your rant against The Man, if funny, is most certainly great to read. And while you are at it, if you can take your sarcasm to the nth degree, I am all for it. Afterall, who doesnt love bitching in public :)5. Nostalgia and facebook go very well together. It is really the best place to revisit days from a life past.6. Community events and get-togethers are why Facebook is so popular in the first place. Use them wisely and it is so much fun.7. BTW, Youtube videos are most welcome (although my iPhone doesnt always play nice). Jon Stewart on Weinergate or an Ilayaraja piece from 1980 can lift one's day!Dislike it!1.If you didnt already know- everytime you use a Facebook application, it spams us. I have no issues with you trying to find out your cosmic whatever or the miracle gemstone that will bring you millions or farm for the egg that never cracks open, but keep me out of it please. A friendly tip- set up two facebook accounts, one for sharing stuff with friends and another for sharing stuff with third party apps. Friends and third party apps are not the same.2. Keep your work place woes out of Facebook. This is not for me but for your own good.3. If you are a friend of a friend, you can friend me, as long as you can be a friend. If you are in a quest to accumulate facebook friends, I am not your friend.4. I love to know about the places you have visited and the wonderful things you have seen. I am not sure I want to know about every where you go, all the time. You have your life. I have mine. Lets not share everything, OK?5. Facebook has messages for a purpose. So you can message someone instead of posting on their wall. There is a not so subtle difference between the two. If you need Facebook to wish your spouse who lives with you a "Happy Birthday", there is something not so happy about it. If you want to ask someone something, call, email, text or Facebook message them before posting on their wall. What part of private is not so private?6. Hey, I love to see your pictures from your diaper days- but if I am standing in my diapers next to you- ask me before tagging. If you didnt already know, not all my adult friends want to see me in diapers.7. On tagging- Facebook already makes tagging an unwelcome nuisance more often than not. Please dont make it any worse but going trigger or tag happy.8. Every once in a while, Facebook is a great agony aunt. The collective friend circle can work wonders to boost one's morale on a bad bay. But if every day is bad, maybe Facebook is not your solution.9. I love the fact that you are in love and want to share it with the world. Not the gory details of every kiss, please!10. Finally, a pet peeve. English the language is extremely well structured with simple grammar and something we all refer to as "spelling". I request you to keep your SMS language to just that- SMS. Not only is it hard- it is also incredibly frustrating at times, reading lines that dont have structure, grammar or spelling to it.If this "Jerry Maguire" moment of mine means I am out of your friends list, thats not entirely a bad thing. If how we view Facebook is poles apart, maybe we shouldnt be sharing things in Facebook with each other!. You may not agree with everything I say, but that doesn't mean we cant be friends.And if you feel like adding more to this list (like this one), feel free drop a comment.