The Thin Line Between Loving and Hating Facebook

As someone who loves connecting with friends, family and colleagues from all over the world as well as keeping in tune with my many social interests, Facebook to me was a no-brainer.

In fact, I have reconnected with people totally near and dear to me that I lost touch with over 20 years ago that have now become a major part of my life, which is unbelievable in itself and I am eternally grateful for.

One other great quality of Facebook is the multitude of feeds available from news services, keeping users informed on their personal interests.

However, I think these days that it's safe to say that the honeymoon period with Facebook over the last couple of years has worn off.

Why, you ask?

There are a bunch of reasons that I can choose from, but I think I can boil it down to a few:

Most people are just not interesting

When Facebook users constantly complain about the weather ("it's too cold, it's too hot, it rains/snows too much", etc.), what they're eating at that very moment, where they are at that very moment, what they think of American Idol "travesties," and so on, I have found a pretty high percentage of people just don't have anything interesting to say.

For example, I don't care that you're eating a ham sandwich or thai-glazed salmon.

Frankly, I don't care that I am eating a ham sandwich or thai-glazed salmon.

Not to mention that I could care less if you're at Applebee's.

I'd actually be a little embarassed that I would share with greater cyberspace that I was actually paying for and eating the corporate, processed slop they serve there.

Also, I certainly don't care that you checked in at your place of employment.

Generally for most people, between the hours of 8 and 6, unless you're on vacation or are taking a sick day, you're supposed to be at work - no need to tell me about it.

Unless you work for bands like Umphrey's McGee, the White Stripes or Rush, Stephen Colbert, Hugh Hefner, Jerry Springer, the CIA, the Joint Chiefs of Staff or Nelson Mandela, no need to post that you're at work.

Also, the repeat posts that go around and around and around forever and ever ad nauseum, you know them well:

"Please do me a favor and post this so you and many others will know about cancer, this disease, that disease, animal rights, Darfur, social injustices, Big Lebowski quotes, the fact that Facebook may be charging for usage, this scam, that scam, who Snooki dry humped this week, alternate parking rules in New York City, etc - 95% of you won't post this, but 5% of you will."

Ya think?

I have probably seen all of the above posts and a host of others a gajillion times, and even though I am certainly sensitive and sympathetic to many of those causes, I am proud and glad to be part of the 95 percentile here.

Enough!

How about the constant stream of vague solicitations begging for engagement:  "I'm bored/sad/had a bad day, blah blah blah, wah, wah wah....."

Ugh!  Go have a drink or see your shrink!

Sunset photos - I definitely can appreciate the beauty of a live sunset, but when I have been alive for 45 years, I have seen the sun rise and/or set approximately 16,425 times, give or take a few.

That said, I don't find anything really unique about a sunset on a little bitty thumbnail photo.

Spamalot - Not The Play

It's not a secret that Facebook's security is shoddy, but it seems that more and more, I get hit with "WOW, have you seen this - she must be embarassed!" on a more regular basic where users don't know how/where to combat these threats.

To answer your question, YES, I have seen that - in fact I saw it 15 other times from your account and 10 times from other accounts, so you need to talk to the spam folks and get it fixed.

The Wayne's World's Mantra - Fear Change

With Facebook's constant propensity for changing designs and then loads of related settings that undo the changes you didn't like in the first place, I don't have the time or energy to have to update my settings all the time.

I like the site interactions two revisions ago, I knew where everything was and don't want to learn to find out where things are when I knew where they were in the first place.

This also coincides with the 300 subsequent posts I will see from people needlessly whining about the new Facebook changes, with the polls, surveys, third-party directions on how to undo those changes, etc.

We understand your need for competing with Google+, but work on your bandwidth issues, not usability.

To Farm or Not To Farm

One of the most unbelievable things I have seen on Facebook is the gaming, particularly the love of Farmville and other games.

Farmville gives people the opportunity to run a "virtual" farm replete with crops, animals, services, etc.

This love is supposedly so deep that more than 60 million people use these games daily and the company who developed the Farmville game is kicking around a multi-billion initial public offering.

Here's a novel idea - being that there are 2.2 million farms in the US with many people in our country living at or below the poverty level and struggling to put food on the table, how about the tens of millions of Farmville users consider putting down the online farm, go out and plant some crops somewhere or volunteer for a local farm, soup kitchen or pantry?

It's basically the adult equivalent of our youth programs trying to get kids off the Xbox, off the couch and out for exercise.

For the good of mankind and for real.

I am sure that at some point that Facebook will be tomorrow's MySpace, and Google+ will be replaced by somethingelse.com, especially at the rate that Facebook's PR department has gotten lately.

So, the next time you consider posting a copy and paste message that millions of us have already seen many many many many times, or feel the need to wax poetic about the weather that we have no control over, think again.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I will go read my New York Magazine - the actual magazine, page by page.

Then pick up the phone and call my sister.