Wed 11 Feb 2009
Face Book Bomb!
Posted by David under geek, what I did today
[6] Comments
So apparently some of my friends (traditional English-language definition) coordinated some kind of a campaign to become my friends (modern social-networking definition) on facebook. I received some 15 friend requests in the 11am hour this morning, without having a facebook account. I actually had to wonder if somehow someone had managed to make an account for me on facebook without my consent, although if they had it was pretty clearly good hearted.
They didn’t. Or at least, I don’t think they did. I don’t really know. But I did go ahead and create an account. There? Happy?
So far, it’s overwhelming… which I guess it to expected. Within an hour of signing up, my inbox had basically only facebook notifications visible in it. Two full screens of messages, about 35 facebook notifications, and two normal legitimate emails. Most of these are friend confirmations, so presumably those will die down soon once the initial rush is over. Let’s hope…
Meanwhile, I find the facebook interface easy enough to use (very impressive how quickly it identified all of these “friends” for me) but… overwhelming. Right now it feels like 30 of my friends are having a party in the room while I’m trying to work. Not that I can’t see the attraction, but, at the risk of seeming a 21st century high-tech grumpy old man, I’m closing the window for now.
I kind of consider myself a grumpy old woman about facebook. I have an account but I stay away from it as much as I can just due to the overwhelming amount of interaction it wants from me. Between IM’ing, blogs and email, I feel like I can stay pretty up to date on the goings on of friends but maybe I just haven’t seen the light yet. :)
Are you speaking English? I have no idea what you’re talking about. I guess I’m a 19th century, low-tech, old woman. D
Yeah, I have to say that I never have facebook open at work. Also, I can’t get into all of the games that tell you to go to a page to look at your garden or hatch an egg or something.
There are, however, word games that are pretty fun, like Word Wiggle, which is like an online boggle.
I can probably help solve some of the mystery of how you got the friend bomb – I got a notification from Pri to connect to you, and then when you connect to someone it lets you pick people who they might know. I happen to know a lot of people that you also know :).
AHahah… We, having a party! It’s a very funny imagery!
But yes, my dear, it’s overwhelming and addictive. That’s why I try to keep it closed during work time. But it happens now that the Music School has 3 accounts there and I am one of the people who takes care of them, so I have been asked to check and do stuff in Facebook for work. I can tell you it’s a complete disaster, since I start doing personal things and reading what other people are doing without noticing… SO I have to be VERY CAREFUL. Anyway, I think Xie mentioned something I didn’t know existed… G-A-M-E-S in Facebook?? o-oh…
Donna, Facebook is “the” new virtual community people are connected in all voer the world. If you feel like, I can invite you. Let me know!
Ya, I just basically ignore all the game requests and log in every once in awhile to see what my friends are up to. It’s more interesting for me to make all the web of connections happen rather than “talking” to people on that web.
Did people really bomb you? It’s my experience that at some point, that just happens. I get a wave of about 5-10 new friend requests about once every two weeks these days, when a new cluster of my past is discovered by the network and it virally expands into previously unclaimed territory. As someone who updates my Facebook page hardly at all and has had little patience for any of the games, I can attest to the power of simply being there as a tool for reconnecting with people whom I am almost certain I would otherwise have lost forever. It’s a fascinating space right now, and I’m glad to see you there. :)