As always, a hot topic with me, social networks.
Today, an ex-boyfriend added me as a friend on Facebook. No huge deal, since we’re friended on a bunch of other networks, and it’s not like we have bad vibes between us. It’s just that we don’t really relate anymore.
What got me thinking was when I approved his friend request, and the “How do you know this person?” window popped up. Oh, this is a toughie. Sure, I could say “Met randomly” or “Worked together”. I could also say “We lived together”. I could also use that in conjunction with “We dated from xxxx-xxxx”, but then I’d also have to choose from a drop-down menu for “How did it go?” and furthermore, answer the question “And now?”. Dare I say “We hooked up”?
I clicked “Skip this step”.
I’ve always been one to jump on the latest and greatest social networking sites. I like to try out these sites out of my own curiosity, although every time I join a new site, I hesitate for a moment and ask myself, “Why?”
Ever since Six Degrees [now defunct] in the late nineties, I was compelled to make connections with the people I knew, through the magic of the internet. The world wide web made our own worlds smaller, and we were enchanted with the idea of connecting and reconnecting with people from near and far. With Friendster, we saw people get obsessed with collecting friends… some even likened it to Pokémon (Gotta catch ‘em all!), which was rising in popularity at the same time. Friendster forever changed the definition of the word “Friend”.
MySpace brought social networking to a younger (read: mainstream) audience and made itself a part of the vernacular. From then on, it got ridiculous. Social networking sites sprung up faster than anyone could count, and to this day, invitations to join someone’s network litter our inboxes, and people foam at the mouth for invitations to the beta version of the newest networking site.
I feel that part of the appeal of social networks is in the ability for those of the introverted persuasion (e.g., geeks and nerds) to be able to connect to many like-minded people. We became social networking junkies, binging on forming online friendships. Why not? It’s so easy… we can be friends with someone by simply clicking a button!
Yesterday, I found myself purging my social networks of people I feel little or no connection with. It was still hard for me to delete/remove/de-friend some people from these lists, so I let some of them be. What if they found out I didn’t have them in my Friend List anymore? What would I say? How would I explain it? Is it easier to keep them on my Friend List to avoid confrontation? Would this confrontation even exist?
And why the heck am I so worried about this?