Facebook is very popular, we all know this. It's become an all-encompassing virtual world, people rely on it, people need it, when things with facebook go wrong, people get alarmingly worked up about it.
But when you get bombarded daily with seemingly useless information about friends, family, acquaintances and their friends, family, acquaintances and their friends, family, acquaintances etc, you start to spot certain things that, without facebook, probably wouldn't happen or wouldn't ever come to your attention. So, considering what facebook has shown me of late, here's a list of things I think are worth remembering. You might think I'm wrong, I might even be wrong, that's your prerogative. But here goes.
1. The old layout is NEVER coming back. Because it was shit, it was changed for a reason. You can, and many did, complain until blue in the face, but what are you going to do? Demand a refund? And I don't think starting a group that claims 'if i get 1,000,0000 pepl to joyn facebook say theyl chang it back!!!' is going to make a blind bit of difference, if that's how you spell normally I can't imagine they could even understand any emails you sent, let alone promise to undo their radical format shift because about 2% of users can't handle change. Deal with it.
2. It's weird, but it's true of statuses, comments, captions or anything else, but no matter what the sentence actually says, adding 'lol' at the end actually makes it at least 50% less funny than it actually is. And unless you did actually 'laugh out loud' when you said/wrote it, you're technically a liar.
3. The guys who own/run/built facebook are apparently somewhat right-wing and mercenary in their beliefs, staunchly pro-capitalist. So when people like that give you something you use for most of your waking hours for no money at all, it's probably not for your benefit. Apparently it's fine that they have access to all your personal details 24/7, which they can use an abuse at their leisure, but if they try to keep it when you leave? Bastards! It is, I know, a gross misuse of personal data, but it seems a bit odd to complain at this point, like walking through public naked then complaining that someone took a photo and posted it online.
4. Ian Huntley is not, and never has been, on facebook. This probably goes for every other high-profile child abuser/murderer you can think of. I'm not to well read on the exact rehabilitation techniques of prisoners, but I can't see felons with a history of killing children being given access to children, online or otherwise. And let's be honest, if Ian Huntley was on facebook, who'd accept his friend request? Who is that desperate for numbers or 'famous' friends?
5. Robert Mugabe, the Government of Israel and anyone else who's caused a humanitarian disaster, these people are renowned for ignoring the international pressure of the combined leaders of western society. So, a facebook group that says they're not nice is going to do absolutely piss all, even if it does boast thousands of members. Declare your dislike by all means, but joining/starting a group is doing exactly fuck all to help matters, so don't think your 'making a difference' by doing so. Ease your conscience by donating or campaigning actively, if your friends with me I already assumed you were opposed to tyrants/invaders/murderers
6. Although there are many bad people in the news of late, you can't bring back the death penalty for one person. For the death penalty to be justified at all, you'd need a justice system that was 100% efficient, and we don't have that. Innocent people will die if we bring back the death penalty, and that's the sort of thing that it's meant to prevent.
7. If I don't have any idea who you are, I probably won't accept a friend request from you. We clearly aren't friends, my actual friends would say 'hello,it's me, your friend', so if I refuse to accept you, I'm not being rude. Mam always said never speak to strangers, certainly don't let them see all your personal details and photos.
8. Facebook is quite widespread, but has not yet got to the point where it dictates what happens in the real world. If I don't show up as attending an event, it doesn't mean I'm not going, if I choose not to put my Birthday up, I still have one, if I take more than two days to reply to a message, I'm probably busy and not dead.
9. If someone randomly kept poking me in real life, I'd get annoyed and tell them to piss off. Why is it seen as a friendly gesture on here?
10. People who write bitter, cynical rants about what is essentially a harmless distraction clearly should just give up and got to bed.
The people I've tagged are those I hope would concur with my assessment(s) and possibly have more to add.
