#20: The Facebook Experiment

This is the one social experiment that I am certain will cause the loss of many friends and being ostracized for the rest of my life. However, my insatiable curiosity can't be ignored so I figured its worth it. I must extend my thanks to my dear friend Jamie who kept the curiosity aflame; check out her fashonista blog, she's pretty much the coolest person I know ;]

On Thursday, I changed my relationship status from 'single' to 'in a relationship'. The amusing part about it is that I'm still single; hence the comment about the loss of friends and being ostracized. I meant no malice or anything like that, this was simply an experiment. Just in case you didn't know there are approximently 350 million people who actively use the site, and about 175 million people log into Facebook every day. Facebook has been growing by well over 600,000 users per day over the last several weeks, continuing the company’s torrid growth pace. If Facebook were a country, it would now be the 6th most populous in the world.

Wow.

In my mere twenty four hours of being 'in a relationship' I only received 9 comments and 9 likes, but I received about 30-50 texts within an HOUR of changing it. Plus one or two messages and 3 emails that night. I think that counts for something. Then again I only have a mere 248 friends; I don't 'friend' everyone that asks me so they're quite small. Not only that but I only wanted to leave it that way for twenty four hours because quite frankly, I don't think I could take being inundated with texts and emails for much longer.

There's a reason I don't share everything on Facebook, I also don't friend people I don't know, or who are only mere acquaintances. Quite frankly, the only reason I even signed up for the damn thing is because I have friends all over the country. I'm still very much a people person and believe that face to face conversation is the best way to get to know someone. After a few conversations in class or over coffee, then I'll accept your friend request. We live in a society where instant gratification is becoming very much a way of life, Facebook satisfies that urge to know EVERYTHING about EVERYONE. It also satisfies the inner creeper in all of us. Not gonna lie...I've been known to be a little bit of a creeper on Facebook.

That was the whole point of the experiment: To prove how much this networking site has become a fixture in our lives. You can't have a conversation or turn on the TV without hearing something about it. It's a little scary when you think about it.

It was also a good way to sift out the people who really were happy and the people who just wanted to know because they're nosy and it completes them to know everything.

So yeah, I lied. Believe what you want, chances are if you're a naysayer or anything like that I really don't want anything to do with you anyway and you'll probably get deleted. Its not your fault, I never should have accepted your friend request anyway. I went into this knowing that I was going to catch some major crap for it at the end, I have thick skin; bring it on ;]

Just don't get mad if you get deleted.
At least that's how I see it.