Switch on, boot up, log in, open mail. Delete the porn, the spam, the offers to extend my penis and enlarge my septic tank. Delete the emails that want to send me Viagra and Cialis and turn down the offer of £1m from a widow in Nigeria (although I was tempted by this one, oh yes). Right, so that’s the crap cleared out of my inbox, what’s left? Oooh, lovely there’s a message from someone I haven’t seen in four years. Hang on, what’s she saying? She wants me to sign up to be her friend on Facebook? I haven’t seen her for four years and that’s the best she can do? I emailed her straight back, told her I wasn’t into Facebook or Myspace but was over the moon to have heard from her again. I was a bit confused by the Facebook thing but decided to ignore it and plowed on with a gushing reply. I asked her about her life, her son, her business. I recalled things we’d done together in the past, putting memories into the message, encouraging a reply from the other end of the country from someone’s life I was genuinely interested in learning more about. That was a week ago. Have I heard back? Have I f..f..f… facebook.
It seems for some people, if you’re not a friend on Facebook, you’re not a friend at all. The Facebook website says it’s a social utility that connects you with the people around you. Well, that may be true. You might end up with 458 “friends” but the true meaning of the word is now lost. [Originally written for Dollymix]
