facebalk

so a few weeks ago i caved on this whole facebook craze and i'm sort of hating myself for it. it's like going back to eating animals or something and i feel really dirty inside for doing it. not going to lie though, i've learned a lot since i've surfed around and mostly had a good/insightful time doing it. some of those insights are listed below:

1. there are any number of groups to join and feel a part of something bigger. my favourite being "People who don't believe in fan death". for those of you who are more intelligent than i and do not have a facebook account, "Fan death is the Korean belief that sleeping in a room with an electric fan will kill you. No longer shall innocent fans get the blame." it's totally true. kinda.

2. people sure let random strangers know a lot about themselves, for example, if you don't know what you're doing you can let someone know your name, what you look like, what your friends look like, where you work and other scattered info (ie. your favourite drink at the bar, or my favourite, reasons why you hate your boss)

3. updating and publishing your status is not only sometimes irritating and pointless, it's also like you're helping out big brother watch over you by letting them know your every move. and really, who cares if "steve is walking the dog" or "tommy is lovin' the new fifty cent while painting his toenails". that's wack, yo.

4. teachers on facebook should be careful. most students are ruthless little critters and whence upon they see your profile there'll never believe you have a life outside the classroom. embarrassment will ensue. you will become red-faced. their marks will drop. everyone wins.

5. "titties" is an acceptable word while playing scrabulous (sorry mom)

6. there are so many people on facebook that anytime there is a crime or someone in the news and they don't have a picture attached to the news story the first thing i do is go straight to facebook and do a search and check out what the culprit looks like, or at least what their friends do. it's great!

7. i have way too many friends that i've grown up with that now either have babies (sometimes multiple) and/or are married/separated. i'm having a good time and am happy with my life. i'll hold off for a bit thank you very much.

one of the reasons why i stayed away from facebook for so long is the amount of controversy surrounding "data-mining" and facebook's funding by venture capitalists. there has also been concern that the US government was spending millions on websites like facebook, myspace, and other online communities to put individuals in databases. this has all occurred since 9/11 of course. so basically, if the US government was interested in what i'm up to they could now easily gather info on who my friends are, where i'm living, working, what my birthday is, etc. it's actually quite scary. this is a neat little flash video that sums it all down. do your own research though.

oh yeah, korea is fun too. thanks for asking!