I’m sure there are people who study this and publish about it. To them: forgive me. I am not really interested enough to track down and read the literature. I mean no offense. It’s just that I’ve noticed a few things that I find amusing…

I’ve been on FaceBook for about 2 1/2 years and it’s fun*. I catch wind of lots of interesting articles and news items through FB. I’ve noticed though that most people seem to approach FaceBook “friendship” in one of a few ways:

1. They only friend actual RL friends and family.
   1. These are often the people who reveal a little TOO much. Perhaps they think FB is a private space. That anyone can see.
2. They friend colleagues and professional contacts.
   • These people are the ones who tend to share news of a global or SIG nature. I hear about lots of interesting things from these folks.
   • They also tend not to say much about their personal lives.
3. They friend ANYONE.
   • I call these FaceBook Tramps.

Of course, it’s rarely that clean-cut and many people do a combination of the first 2. But the last one: they are a group unto themselves.

Now, don’t go getting your knickers all in knots – I don’t really mean it derisively. Seems to me though that if you have a thousand+ FB friends, you can’t possibly go around reading what they post each day. So, clearly, that’s not how you use FB. My guess is (FB Tramps, feel free to chime in here) that if you are a FaceBook Tramp, then you use FB as a one-way medium – from YOU to your ‘friends’. In that case they’re not really BFFs**, friends, or even FBFriends – they’re more like followers. I guess that’s OK. I know for a FACT that you don’t actually know most of the people you friend. I know this because I have several FB-Avatars (an FB persona that isn’t really a person) that have friended you.

I’m just saying.

* Have you ever checked to see how far back those “older posts” go? Just so you know: they go back ALL THE WAY. Not only does it keep track of all the status updates you have ever made, it keeps track of every single comment you made on everyone else’s page as well as every single click you clicked while inside FB. Thought you should know.

** I can be dense sometimes – we all can. For the longest time I tried to puzzle out what BFF stood for. I decided it must stand for Best F*&%^ing Friends. I wa told that I was mistaken.

I like my meaning for BFF better.

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