Facebook: Friend or Foe?

For a change, I don't have anything negative to say about Mark Zuckerberg's latest changes. I'm a little bit used to New Facebook. I actually like it. Like really like it.

I was recently looking at friends' profiles [yes, I do that, and you do too, stop denying it] and marveling at how much I can learn about someone just by stalking their profile. Now, I know what you're thinking. THANKS CAPTAIN OBVIOUS. Obviously you can gather valuable information from a PERSONAL PROFILE, but that isn't my point. We're getting there.


I'm talking more about what your profile says about you. How many friends you have. How many tagged pictures, IF you allow people to see tagged pictures. Your wall posts. Your about me. Your status changes. How often you update your status, and what you're updating for.

I love Facebook. I think it's one of the most brilliant networking tools that exist today. I know this is an obvious topic to mention. Shoot me.

In an age where it's not uncommon to broadcast your entire life on the Internet, it's interesting to see who posts what, and where. I marvel at Facebook friends who post albums of their new haircut, who change their statuses to coordinate with their ever-changing schedule. Does anybody really care about your haircut? We don't care if you're eating soup for dinner for the 8th night in a row. We don't care if you're going to sleep early YET AGAIN. I'm not saying I'm a perfect Facebook specimen. I'm insanely guilty of a hectic profile.

It's curious what different people deem as appropriate amounts of personal information. I can't see your wall, but your list of favorite bands is extensive. You have 1034 friends, but you won't post a profile picture. Just how much information is too much?

Looking at assorted profiles, victims ranging in age, I can't make a serious hypothesis. Really, it depends on the user. Internet privacy is such a funny bird. Every time I add a new friend, I always check out my own profile. This is what they can see about me. Everything you see posted on my profile has a place. Everything has a reason. It's completely calculated. Have I put too much thought into my profile page?

Maybe you just haven't put enough into yours.

Take a good, hard, long look at your profile. Maybe you're revealing too much. Maybe you're not revealing enough. Time for a profile update!