I Heart Facebook

Do you Facebook?! It started so innocently in October 2007. Angela, my dear little sister was visiting and the conversation was very similar to this:

Angela: You need join Facebook
Me: No, that's for college students - I'm too old
Angela: It is not - you can join
Me: Still, I'm too old and I doubt any of my friends would be on there anyway
Anglea: Ok - but you can chat with me on there since I'll be in Arizona
Me: Hmmm - I'll think about it

Well that opened the door and she pounced to the computer like a cat hocked up on catnip. In minutes she had created my facebook page and added me as a friend. My first friend - lucky me!

That's pretty much how it stayed for several weeks and then some of her friends added me as a friend. I'm convinced Angela told them to add me - out of sympathy of course. Please add my old sister - she has no Facebook friends.

At best I logged on weekly, really just to check out what Angela was up to. Was she enjoying Arizona? Is the weather nice? All very innocent. Then I added my maiden name to my profile and suddenly it was a MSHS Class of '93 Reunion. I've also been fortunate enough to find friends from our three years in St. Louis - people I was sure I'd probably never see again since we'd lost touch after all these years. Voila - they are back in my life just like that and I love it!!

I don't think my story is much different from many who have joined the Facebook ranks. Take my BFF Molly for example - while in Marquette over the 4th of July she flat out said "NO, you will never see me on Facebook - never!!" And I believed her - I really did...until she left a message on my wall a few weeks ago. Welcome to the darkside Molly - we've been waiting for you!

So, almost 200 friends later and I come across an article titled '10 Warning Signs That You May be Addicted to Facebook'.

Ok, I'm game - here's my self-assessment!

10 warning signs that you may be addicted to Facebook

1. Facebook is your home page. No, it's not - but that's a really good idea!

2. You update your status more than twice a day. Gosh, depends on my day and if I have a lot to share that day. This one is a sometimes.

3. You have over 500 "friends" half of whom you've never actually met. Nope, just under 200 friends and I truly do know them all.

4. As soon as you step away from your computer you're on FB on your phone. Ok, guilty but only because Facebook is always open on my phone. Did I mention I heart my iPhone too?

5. You are a FB stalker. You qualify as a FB stalker if you

a) click on someone's profile more than once a day even if they haven't messaged or tagged you in a photo. No...okay, maybe! I may have stalked someone but I was really waiting for answer to my question!

b) have dragged and dropped more than 3 FB photos (not from your own profile) Nope! I can
confidently say I don't steal photos from other FB pages.

c) actually go to a place mentioned on someone's page in hopes of seeing them in real life...creepy! Not guilty of this one - creepy is right!

6. You change your profile picture more than a 12-year-old girl. Wrong again! I JUST changed my FB profile picture only because I was getting grief that it was so old. My current picture is only the 2nd picture I've had on FB since I joined in 2007.

7. You have checked your FB page while reading this article. No, I waited until I was done
reading the article and then felt compelled to check.

8. You clean up your "wall" so it looks like you spend less time on FB. No, although I do think my wall could use a good cleansing.

9. You are a member of more than 10 groups and respond to every event invitation "attending" even if you have no intention of going. No way - that's rude! You should never RSVP if you don't plan on attending. Haven't you people heard of Dear Abby?! That's a big no-no!

10. You change your relationship status just to mess with people. Never thought of this - that would be funny! But I also heart Ryan and wouldn't want to confuse him too!!

Based on my responses - I don't think I'm addicted...but I do keep doing things very Molly-like! For example, there are FB notes going around and I never thought I would actually spend the time doing them but here's my track record with those:

25 Random things - did it and then I swore I would not do another Facebook note.

My first born - did that one too. I guess I was wrong.

iPod Shuffle - didn't do it, but want to. However, I think some of my friends would suddenly disappear - my music choices can be so random.

So, that's it - verdict is not addicted! And you act so surprised!!!

PS - I'm so glad they didn't do 11 questions. I'm sure the 11th would be "You blog about your Facebook fetish" - whew, escaped that one!!