Facebook now has a “people you might know” feature, in which it shows you a selection of pictures and names of people many of your friends are online friends with, but you are not. Clearly Facebook does not take into account that these may be people you intentionally are not friends with on the online. Perhaps one day it will show me someone intriguing from Cornell that my friends are all inexplicably friends with, perfectly suited for my personality quirks and online friendship. Until that time, I’d rather not have to see pictures of people I avoided in high school whenever I log on.
Verdict: THUMBS DOWN
On the other hand, one thing I moderately enjoy on Facebook these days, despite all the valid complaints of the myspace-ization of the website, is the “Where I’ve Been” application. Before this calendar year, I had been to approximately 3 places on the planet Earth, and thus, would have lost this game of one-upsmanship to some of my better traveled, more spoiled friends. However, due to a strategic game of service trips and The Sun propagandizing of China, Rebecca has now been to 9% of places in the world. Hint: the key is to go to China, Brazil, Zaire and other gigantic countries that the program has not yet split into their provinces. Australia — you do nothing for me now.
But seriously, thank God for this little animated map to show people that having been to 5 places in Europe does not make you worldly. Try to get yourself to somewhere my pinky finger cannot eclipse on the computer screen. Anyone up for a safari?
Verdict: THUMBS UP