As of today I have 232 "friends" on Facebook. This is getting dangerously close to the level at which I should consider purging some of the less serious connections, according to Reihan Salam's "Facebook commandments." (Helen is well over the threshold at 438 friends, but who's counting?) No offense to Salam, but for now I'm fine with letting the good times roll.
There are several categories of connections: UCSF friends; NYU friends; Haas school of business student and partner friends; librarian friends from hither and yon; college friends; childhood friends and family. At this point, my guess is that I make 3-4 new Facebook connections each week.
In many cases, I'll connect with someone who is already well acquainted with Facebook. These linkages generally don't yield much new activity. However, I frequently connect with somebody who is new to the site. Here, some distinct patterns emerge. The person will first send a message, or perhaps leave a wall post. Maybe they'll post a video, or tag a photo or two.
And before you know it, I'll be getting an invitation to download an application that I don't want or need. (By this point I've ignored at least ten "l'il green patch" requests.) I've been there--my profile is littered with applications for programs I never use but am not motivated enough to remove. But I now have a blanket policy to reject all new Facebook apps, no matter how cool they are or how worthy the cause. Sometimes I wonder if I should tell the person who sent the app that it's not personal, but then I figure that they sent it around indiscriminately.
So there you have it: I'm already a jaded Facebook user, just as others are coming on board.
Or maybe I'm not. These days I obsess over the little meter that allows you to exchange instant messages with whomever else is publicly active (you can be private if you want to) on Facebook at the same time. The first few times I tried to chat the other person did not respond, but now they usually do. The integration of chat into Facebook is still novel today, but in a few months it will be such old news that I'll be tired of it.
And so it goes...
Comments