Saturday, August 22, 2009

the facebook race

many of you have seen this picture
because we are friends on FACEBOOK. i started facebook to chat and share pictures with friends and relatives and even find a few friends that i'd lost contact with. i thought i'd just keep it to a few people. then the "friend requests" start coming in. now, i understand that facebook suggests friends that you might possibly know and it's fun to see people and their families and check out what's going on in their world. however, i don't get requesting "friends" who one has never even spoken to and has no connection with. i don't really want to share pictures of my kids with strangers. i've had several requests from people i know i've never seen before because they live in a different country. but the one that tops it off is a request i recently received from a girl i went to high school with who, from all accounts, despised me. i didn't know her, never said anything mean to her, but she found some reason to strongly dislike me and facebook has, i assume, suggested that she befriend me. when i mentioned the girl's name to erin he said something along the lines of "the one who hated you". yep, you're not the only one i've heard that from. for many, facebook seems like a friend race. one of my fb friends (who, by the way, i really like and think is hilarious) recently announced they had reached 1000 friends. 1000 friends? i can't even keep my own kids straight let alone remember 1000 names of people i don't regularly see. i have "ignored" requests from people i don't know and they sent me another. usually after the second request i confirm them IF the look even vaguely familiar. i'm thinking maybe i will start a new fb account and put pictures of my family on that one and then accept every tom dick and harry that requests me as a friend on my current one. then if someone i've never met sends me a friend request i can send them a message back that says: "please send request to other account. i don't accept strangers as friends on this one. :)"
p.s. have you heard about people who have creditors request them as fb friends and then harass them about their over due accounts? that right there tells me to be weary of never-before-seen-friends. you never know what their intent is. they could be predators. and yes, i do admit i'm a bit paranoid.

6 comments:

SusieQ said...

What I love is how many jerks (and nice people) from my high school became realtors and now, though we never spoke in HS, suddenly want to be friends. I haven't noticed this with any other profession, just realtors.

Anonymous said...

I definitely agree with you. I don't befriend any guys except relatives and those 2 that I did accept have been erased. I like to keep a small circle of friends. (under 1000) :)

Jessica said...

You are NOT paranoid. Facebook security is SCARCE. A friend in my ward, and prosecuter for the government went to a conference on how facebook is being used by predators. They get into your friends accounts, and pretent to be them to find new victims. I definitely don't accept friend requests from those I am not friends with. They usually don't know the difference.

Norton's said...

Love your post. I think the same exact way about facebook. I think it's a competion to see how many friends you can get. Hate it!

Unknown said...

I have really enjoyed facebook also. I love being reconnected with friends from high school or family that lives far away. I do not accept any requests from people I don't know. And eventually the weird requests stopped coming.

Jenn said...

i'd say I'm pretty particular about who I'm friends with on facebook. Some people I end of blocking after a while b/c either they say inappropriate things or they do so many quizzes I cant stand it! I just like to read peoples little statuses to keep a little updated on long lost friends. i'm glad we're friends on facebook its fun to see what your up to sometimes, i'm horrible at checking the blogs they just take too much time to look at to frequently. anyway, thats my two cents. talk to you later!