Limits of Facebook

I like Facebook. It’s a great way to connect with relatives and people from church. It’s also a good place to track down sources for a story and network for business.

But this whole “friend” concept is a bit of a misnomer. Some of the people I’ve found for a story and requested friendship status obliged, but I’ve never interacted with them again. And I’ve granted approval to several people from my past who wanted to reconnect; yet they have never bothered to send a personal greeting.

Some of my 192 “friends” I’ve never met in person, or even talked to on the phone. We have just exchanged words via computers. I wouldn’t know them if I bumped into them on the street. I’m sorry to say I have one friend whom I have no idea who she is or how our paths crossed.

Which makes me chuckle whenever I see the announcements that one of my friends has befriended 23 other people at the same time. Can you really keep track of 4,792 friends? Can you really have 4,792 friends?

I’m not the type of person who accepts friendship requests from everybody. I know that violates some people’s idea of etiquette. But maybe there is a reason we haven’t talked for 13 years: we really don’t have anything in common anymore.

I also am guarded about who I accept as a friend from the building where I work. I don’t want everybody to know all about my personal life. I have a rule of not befriending people in my immediate office. I figure we can be face-to-face friends. No book required.