Social Networking

The world is a totally different place from couple years ago, when there was no Facebook and no Smartphones.  Although we make friends, and hang out with them the same way we did back then, there are some interesting phenomenon I came to realize.

As of today, my friend counter is showing 575, of which I do not have phone numbers for half the people.  But I try to keep it low by not accepting friend requests from people I do not personally know.  Among 575 are some people I haven't seen or talked to for years.  However, interestingly, the people who is most well updated with my life are not necessarily the friends who are closest to me, but those who logs in to Facebook the most.

For instance, if I happen to get in a car accident, I would post what happened on Facebook, most likely with a photo or two.  And I would assume that everyone who's close to me would know the fact I got into an accident.  Again, whoever logs in to Facebook more often would've gotten the news before my closest friends have.

Sometimes I ran into friends from couple years back, and the first news I tell them is that I got married.  And about the half the people, they're not surprised, because they already have seen the photos on Facebook.  I am the one who's more surprised.  It's weirder with those who reads other people's posts but not write or post anything on theirs.  Since I don't see any of their status updates, I assume they don't log in to Facebook, and obviously I don't know what they're up to, but they know my daily life better than some of my closest friends or even my family.

This is an interesting world we live in.