Facebook Observed

A "friend" of mine made a dramatic announcement on her Facebook status yesterday that she was cleaning house.  And by that I mean, contemplating a mass delete of anyone who apparently annoyed her with their individual posts and could therefore look forward to being blocked by her in the very near future.  I find this fascinating.

Why the grand announcement first of all?  I suspect to add a little salt to the imagined wound that these future former friends will suffer when they suddenly realize they were part of the targeted to-be-banned crowd.  Or, maybe to flex her muscles a little bit.  "Look at how I wield my power!  Giving and withdrawing my favor as I see fit!"  Ka BAM!  (That's her lightning rod striking the block button.  And of course she's standing on a cloud, wearing a toga.)

Am I the only one catching a whiff of hubris here?  (If you're not sure, it usually smells a little bit like BO covered by a layer of cheap perfume.)  Given the timing of this decision - on the heels of another blue v. red Election Day - she quite obviously just didn't like the other team expressing their opinions when they conflicted with her own extremely defined, very strong, completely closed opinions.  And really, how dare they?!

Don't get me wrong.  She has every right to add, delete, block, and promote whatever she darn well pleases on her own profile page.  But, well, so does everyone else.  In fact, I'm sure the banned group was already well aware of the fact that they were not aligned politically with her.  So for her to think they'll learn something from this imagined slight is a bit crazy, right?  Because honestly, I do think she harbors a secret belief that they'll be pushed to reevaluate their political stance after this move.

This actually points me toward a whole host of other mysterious behaviours unique to social networking, but I'm only on the mini soapbox today and can't handle that volume.  I may not even have mentioned this incident if this particular person didn't follow up her announcement with an update this morning.  She was "worn out" (yes, she actually said this) by the process of deleting 55 friends.  It does sound exhausting.  Or maybe I'm just imbuing her with my own eye rolling induced weariness.

I think Facebook opens doors into flesh and blood relationships that we never intended to open.  We make judgments based on posts, votes, likes/dislikes, grammar (although, dare I say, this one is justified)... that in turn drive wedges or forge connections that may not have occurred otherwise.

I'm not leaving you with some great moral lesson I've learned, because well, as my Dad used to say, "How will you learn if I just tell you the answer?"  There's good and bad to the inherent exposure Facebook provides.  I just think that it may be a healthy reality check to self-examine before we make grand gestures for our unique little worlds to see.