My far-too-liberal Facebook friend policy
I have 197 friends on Facebook. I don’t think I have 197 friends in real life.
When I first signed up to Facebook in the northern autumn of 2006, I had less than 10 friends. That was when I was in France, and most of the people I knew there were either still students (the poms) or had just finished university (the yanks). And Facebook was very big at universities in those two countries. (Back in New Zealand, however, it seemed that Bebo was the winner.)
Then Facebook began to become popular in New Zealand. People that I actually knew signed up and I added them. So far so good. Then one day I browsed the New Zealand network page, and saw someone that I went to primary school with. So I sent a friend request. And she accepted it. I felt special. I have this fear that I remember lots of people that I meet, but they don’t remember me. So I was pretty happy. That encouraged me to add other people I went to school with. And then people that I hadn’t found added me. That’s a good feeling – it’s fine when someone acknowledges your friendship, but when it’s the other person initiating the contact, it’s that much better! Read more…