The Great and Powerful Facebook Part 8
In 7 installments of The Great and Powerful Facebook, we’ve been through dozens of topics concerning the world’s greatest social networking tool and romance. In Part 8, we’ll conclude our journey with a brief recap of Parts 1-7 and a look at intimacy in Facebook.
The Thin Line Between Love and Felonies
Anonymity breeds exploitation. When no one is going to know, human behavior gets all sorts of unseemly.
So too has the internet given birth to a slew of foul-mouthed know-it-alls and social-network snoops. Let’s look at snooping for a second as well as the nature of Facebook exhibition.
- Get Out of Your Head: As sensitive creatures, we humans are apt to relate to other human experience. It’s just how we work. Likewise, whenever we see anything interesting or similar to our own experiences, we tend to have an internal reaction. This holds as true as it does on Facebook as it does in line at the super market. The problem is that Facebook is an apocalypse of human information – there is quite literally an entire world of humans waiting to be investigated. Here’s where remembering the difference between shared information and shared experience is important. Don’t think you know something just because you’ve read it in a profile – if it is of actual interest to you, take the time to write a PM concerning the topic so you can begin to understand the experience of it. Otherwise, there’s no point in even knowing it. This is important for the next bullet point.
- You Don’t Know Me: Do not spring information on your date that you found out about them on Facebook in person. Which is not to say that you can’t lead into a discussion with something like “I noticed on your Facebook page that you’re into astrology…” of course that’s fine. It’s when you find yourself reiterating what you’ve read rather than exploring the person right in front of you that you’re in trouble. People put things up on Facebook (and online in general) that they do not want most people to see. I’m not sure if it’s because they are not really thinking of the scope of potential viewers or if it’s a weird attention game, regardless, understand that just because it’s up on someone’s Facebook page do not assume it to be fair game in conversation.
Read Part 9 of The Great and Powerful Facebook for a recap of Parts 1 – 8 and a checklist for turning your Facebook friend into your real-life lover.
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