A Short Facebook Rant

Have you ever made a Facebook status update that you thought was totally innocuous, but someone responds with an angry, snotty comment that takes you totally by surprise?
I will spare you the details. But let’s say, for example, my friend says, “Yankees Rule!” I read this and roll my eyes and move on. I’m tempted to write, “You are wrong. The Red Sox rule and you’re an idiot!” but I don’t because it’s not like my friend will read my comment and suddenly say, “you’re right. I hereby desert the Evil Empire and pledge myself to the Nation!”
Ok, so baseball is an overly simplified example, but you get the picture. If I write something in my own status that is offensive to you, how will writing a mean-spirited comment make me change my mind? Will I do a 180 and subscribe to your way of thinking? Wouldn’t a kind word of encouragement do more to “convert” me to your way? You catch more flies with honey.
I personally don’t agree with everything said by my Facebook “friends” (I use quotes because some are relatives that I don’t have anything in common with but felt it would be rude to not accept), but I don’t say anything because I follow the rule of “If You Can’t Comment Something Nice, Don’t Comment At All.” You’re not going to change your mind based on something that I said. Can’t we agree to disagree?

Sorry for the rant. I just needed to air that out.

Happy Birthday, Facebook!

According to this morning’s trending topics, today is Facebook’s 6th birthday! It seems that lately there has been a rash of theme photo weeks.

About a month ago there was “use-a-photo-of-yourself-as-a-kid” week. I didn’t participate because I’m old enough that my baby pictures are in this medium called “film”! You may have heard of it. My mother doesn’t know how to use a scanner and I’m too lazy to scan hundreds of old photos. It’s too bad I didn’t participate that week because I was much cuter as a child than I am now.

Next came “use-a-wedding-photo” week. I’m not married and I’m ok with it. I certainly don’t have a problem with marriage as an institution. It’s too bad that my parents (and other couples their age) don’t have Facebook or know how to use scanners, because there was some pretty scary hair in the 70s. That week would have produced some wicked funny pictures!

Most recently there was “use-a-celebrity-you-have-convinced-yourself-you-look-like” week. I couldn’t think of anyone that I looked like, no matter how hard I stretched my imagination. I got a kick out of other people’s choices, however. Some were spot on, while others? Not so much. My pride was a little hurt that I none of my friends made a suggestion of an attractive celebrity that I looked like, but I got over it.

So, what if someone died and made me Queen of Facebook? I would make “use-yourself-with-your-favorite-baseball-hat-picture” week since that’s what I‘ve been using since I joined FB about two years ago.

Or an even better suggestion would be “use-a-picure-of-yourself” week. What a thought! Right now, if a stranger hacked into my account and viewed my newsfeed, he or she would marvel at my friend Sue who appears to be two people, one male and one female, who are joined at the hip! Then there is my friend, Nate, who is a 9 month old girl! The stranger would fall off his or her chair to discover that I am friends with a 30 week-old fetus, Justine! How do I maintain a friendship with someone in the womb? It’s a modern-day medical miracle!

Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t think there is anything wrong with being proud to be in a relationship, or being an expectant parent, or having cute children. That’s great, but that’s what the photo albums are for. Your profile picture should be a picture of YOU!

Anyway, happy birthday, Facebook. May you continue to bring me friends’ updates for years to come. Or at least until all my friends are on Twitter!