part 19 of 364

Things that keep Melissa alive

Part 19: Facebook

Does anybody else have a love-hate relationship with facebook?

Loves:

• Being able to stalk a guy I'm interested in as far as his privacy settings will let me
• Reading minute by minute updates from all my facebook friends that I went to high school with but never really talked to who are sitting at home with their 6 children.
• I have 268 friends!
  
• When I have thoroughly checked all 3 of my email accounts then the next logical step is to kill time by reading everyone's statii (plural). Thank you facebook.
• That feature that allows you to de-tag yourself in any photo you choose. Why did it take me so long to discover that?
  

Hates:

• When someone doesn't use their facebook nearly as much as I do so it takes them 3 weeks to confirm my friend request. Meanwhile, I am left in agony wondering if they secretly hate me and it just took them 3 weeks to get up enough charity to add me.
• When facebook randomly decides not to notify me of life or death messages I have been waiting for.
  
• Farmville. And every other 'ville (except Springville... I mean, it's Art City!)
  
• The pressure to have every word I type on facebook be the height of wittiness. So instead, I type nothing.
• That you can't "appear" offline on facebook but still see everyone else that is online. Gmail totally lets you do that (next blog post: Why Gmail Keeps Me Alive and is Better than Facebook).

Today I saw an article on MSN: Facebook users are jerks, another study confirms.

Apparently studies show that "Facebook users are either totally conceited or serious self-haters." To which I say: Hey! I resemble that! Are they saying that no rational middle-of-the-road individuals are on facebook? So: Grandma and My Mom, I guess. And maybe 2 people my age that I know of. Or it could be that the normal people are those ones I hate that only log in once a month.

Speaking of Hating: "hating Facebook is a popular topic on Facebook". I almost posted the link to this article on my facebook status, but then I'd just be shooting for popularity.