My relationship with Facebook

I have a love-hate relationship with Facebook. I am a regular user – and by regular I mean if they were to give frequent users Airmile points, I definitely would be able to buy a ticket for anywhere in the world.  I love the fact that I am connected to all my long lost friends, love being part of  celebrations  and the fact that all the people known to me are on this one shared platform.

. Like any other relation, there are times when my relationship with Facebook is almost on the verge of break-up, but then better sense prevails and I give it another try, considering that it is my only source of free entertainment and I also feel it encourages sheer laziness too. Now, if I want to share good news, I don’t email anyone; just post it on your status. Also, where else can I get to see cool travel pictures and connect with so many long lost friends – you get the picture.

There are some pet peeves though.

Ø      Repost status: This of course takes the cake. It is, as if someone is forcing me at gunpoint to post something I don’t want to. If you love your brother/mother/father/husband/cousin, you will re-post this or else –the implied threat infuriates me to no end. So, if I re-post the one for father, I am obligated to follow up with all the other relations.  The only ones I re-post is the one for missing kids and pets, because they make sense to me. The rest, forget it.

Ø      Religious and political views: I absolutely dislike when people post something promoting their religion and their beliefs and in some case sermonizing about it. I might be guilty of doing the same to some extent too. But then who is perfect?

Ø      Likes: They should put a ceiling on how many likes you put on a post, especially a photo. I still haven’t figured out how many likes are polite for some posts. Is it rude of me for instance, not to like a friends post because he/she liked my last status or photo, or is it acceptable to ignore them?

Ø      Absolutely rude comments: People often forget that the audience of your comment is not just your object, but hundreds of other people.  I had my share of rude comments.

Ø      Blatant bragging: No one posts the hardships or the tough times they face. If I were to accept all the posts on Facebook at face value, I would be doomed and am sure to spiral into depression. There should be a limit on how many trips, happy news you can post in a month.

All said and done, till I am rich enough for some other form of entertainment, I will stick with Facebook – and like a good citizen of the social media, respect other people’s views and shares!