I made a "new" friend today. His name is Zach. We know at least 1 person in common. We "met" through this person, who happens to be my BFF. They worked together at a company that I used to work for. Interestingly enough Zach is also "friends" with someone I used to work with at the company I currently work for. I only "knew" this person through email, but we are also "friends".
Are you keeping up with this?
It's the newest game: 6-degrees of Facebook separation.
Zach is someone I could see myself actually being friends with, in REAL life.
It all started because the other night he made a comment about a comment my BFF posted regarding a line from GLEE. My BFF and I watch the same show and write back and forth. And since the Bachelor(ette) isn't on, and that train wreck of a spin-off, the Hook-up and Cry About It show is over, and Bret Michaels show is on at different times, GLEE is "our" show.
Onward.
If you watch the show you might notice that there is typically one or two really well written and delivered lines that deserve posting. This week's Honorable Quote was, "I'm everybody's secret Santa!" BFF posted it. I commented. Zach commented. But then Zach stopped posting. I thought maybe we skurred him off.
Fast forward a couple of days until NOW, when my BFF posts something and Zach and I comment at the same time. (I'm pretty certain he is stalking me at this point.) One thing leads to another and Zach and I hi-jack my BFF's page and then the next thing I know I'm getting a "friend" request from Zach. I accept.
He who dies with the most FB friends WINS! Or their Farmville crops grow or die or a cow gets stranded in their daisy crop or something.
Anywhoodles, Zach and I start emailing back and forth about our respective companies, the General Public (GP's) and Vodka. The line "push comes to bitch slap" is written by me and our friendship is solidified.
I have no idea if I will ever have the honor of meeting Zach for a vodka or a slap, but my "friend" count just went up by 1.
Here's the rub: Does he or she with the most "friends" really win? Are these people really friends? Or are they just names for the Christmas card non-list. If one of these "friends" needed me to show up for anything more than a funny line now or then, would I?
If I ran the list of people on my list I wonder who I could unfriend (now a recognized word in Webster's Dictionary, if not MicrosoftWord spell-check) and not ever have to explain my rejection to? If you ask me how many friends I have, I wouldn't hesitate: 5. One for each finger on my left hand. For the record I am right handed, which is why I said my left hand. If I count them on my left hand it leaves my right hand open for balling into a fist and punching someone in the face who hurt my friend who I counted on my left hand.
But that number isn't really a true count of friends. Friends are like concentric rings. I am at the center. Those who cluster around in the first ring are my Top 5 who's back I would have in a bar fight, even if they were the one's who started it. The next ring are friends, but not the one's who have been there in the middle of life's crisis. They aren't the ones I called when my mom was taking her last breath. They are the ones I called later. The circles expand from there. Until they become "friends of friends" or maybe just people who I have met. And the circle is the last ring on the lake that you dropped the rock into. Just a fade from the epicenter of your life.
Facebook is an awesome-horrifyingly huge waste of time and energy. It will create friendships, re-kindle friendships, wreck relationships, destroy careers and launch the NEXT BIG THING. It comes and goes in my world. I spent about 9 months, maybe longer, just being a voyeur. I read about peoples lives, jobs, families, bathroom habits, crazy comments, disappointments, victories, life decisions and didn't once comment with my keyboard. Life was simpler then.
When I post something am I disappointed when no one responds? Maybe. Maybe not. I haven't given it much thought. Until now. Does the amount of friends one has correlate to the comments one receives? Maybe. Maybe not. I wonder if anyone has does a study. I don't care enough to expend that energy doing a study on people I don't truly consider friends.
I enjoy reading about people's lives, mostly. But if FB went away tomorrow, would I be sad? Would I miss my "friends"? No. Because I know who my 5 are. They were there before FB and they will be there after FB.
I kind of hope Zach will be there after FB. He's my kinda people.
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