09:04 by FoxTwo
Join Facebook, Make Friends! Enemies Thrown In As Bonus!
Why do you join a social network, such as Facebook? Well I could have used other social networks like Friendster, Orkut etc but right now, Facebook's the "in-thing", and almost everyone has an account.
So back to the subject at hand. Why do YOU join a social network? I bet it's more likely peer pressure. "Everyone has joined, I should too!". Although none of your friends actively "pressured" you, the mere act of them sending an invite to you is already "pressuring".
We all like friends, definitely. But, did you know you can now use Facebook to find new enemies? Yes you can!
Facebook takes the cake in that it's the first social network thing I know of, where you can make enemies really quick. I'm not kidding.
Previous incarnations of social networking sites, like Friendster, only let you add friends. You can't do much except to send each other private and public messages (Facebook calls the public messages "Wall Messages"). If you uploaded pics of yourself, people can write comments on them. That's basically the extent of the "interaction".
So now Facebook comes along, ups the bar by allowing 3rd party applications. All fine and good. Then people who write "apps" need the apps to be competitive. After all, competition is what keeps nature alive, and ever changing. We compete for food, mates, etc. It's natural. So we have apps that buy and sell friends.
This is the fun part. First, let's set a hypothetical background:
On Facebook, Ah Kow has a friend, Ah Mei. He installed this "Buy Your Friend" app and bought Ah Mei because she is his friend. Ah Mei has another male "friend", Ah Gu. Ah Gu doesn't know Ah Kow, but he knows Ah Mei. So he installs the same app, and buys Ah Mei.
So, this is the part where people get too serious and personal.
Ah Kow is not happy that a stranger buys "his" Ah Mei. So Ah Kow buys Ah Mei back from Ah Gu. Ah Gu, however, is a businessman. He finds that Ah Kow is a good candidate for "quick sales". So he buys Ah Mei again, driving her price up. He knows Ah Kow will buy her back and he'll make more money.
But, Ah Kow is totally pissed off that this weirdo Ah Gu keeps buying "his" Ah Mei. Pissed off, he goes to Ah Gu's wall and writes some threatening notes.
Tada! Ah Gu just got a free enemy from a social networking site!
You just gotta love Facebook... enemies are provided too!
Yes, the story I related is actually happening inside Facebook. This post serves to explain my sudden disappearance from all buy/sell apps, because I no longer wish to be asked to decide whose side I'm going to be on, because EVERYBODY TAKES THESE APPS TOO DAMN SERIOUSLY!
Labels: facebook, internet, Rant
-
Hisham Juzzywuzzy @ Thursday, May 08, 2008 10:13:00 AM lol, interesting analogy. :)
-
FoxTwo @ Thursday, May 08, 2008 10:57:00 AM juzzy - yeah well technically it isn't an analogy, but yeah the story is true. And no, it wasn't me who bought/sold someone's "friend". I just hate it when I am asked to take sides.
It's a GAME dammit! -
Aronil @ Thursday, May 08, 2008 12:13:00 PM
lol.. i actually agree with you on this :P but i don't see who u can view the drama. Oh wait i forgot facebook is a stalking medium :P
-
Haney @ Thursday, May 08, 2008 1:31:00 PM
I'm an anti social sites! Coincidentally, I also talked about online bullies.
-
Jonathan Kong @ Thursday, May 08, 2008 6:27:00 PM
Before this app, some folks are totally involved with "Human Pets" app. Works about the same as the one you mentioned. Same stuffs happening. haha
-
FoxTwo @ Thursday, May 08, 2008 7:43:00 PM
Aronil - yeah Facebook is becoming a stalker's paradise, and the stories I have been told can fill a 6-parter blog series.... hmm, that's an idea! Almost a whole week's worth of blog entries!
Haney - haa yeah I was thinking it was so coincidental that this exploded right after I read your entry....
Johnathan - well, the name "Buy Your Friend" that I wrote in my entry is a made-up one. It's a generic name for those buy/sell apps. As you have mentioned, same thing happened in Human Pets too.
People should really ease up and take the apps as they are intended - FUN. Once they get personal, all the "fun" is gone. Imagine playing something like "chess" with someone and when you beat him, he writes threatening notes on your wall.... -
SheR. @ Thursday, May 08, 2008 9:10:00 PM
I did get my fair share of enemies on FB. And I was so scared that I had to restrict my personal profile. Not to mention I had to escape from forums to avoid pests in discussion groups. Now I'm trying to wean myself from FB. Arghs..
-
FoxTwo @ Thursday, May 08, 2008 9:28:00 PM
sher - I'm sorry it happened to you personally. I'm just a bystander and it really sucks when your friend tells you to choose who you want to be "friends" with. Trouble is I know all parties involved personally, although they might not necessarily know each other.
Yeah Facebook is getting out of control. Well technically it isn't Facebook's fault, but the fault of the apps. They just happened to bring out the worst in people.
My solution might not be the best, but it suits me. I'm off those buy/sell apps now and I don't really care who buys who and says what to who now. -
@ Friday, May 09, 2008 1:32:00 PM
Won't it be fun when divorce cases in court have lawyers presenting facebook applications as 'proof' that someone had click sex and given orgasms to other parties as well?
