The F-word
When you read 'F-word', you probably thought I was referring to the conventional English swear word with four letters. But no, today I am talking about the cult phenomenon that is known as F*cebook.
I don't think a week has gone by in the last half a year when I haven't heard this word, or a period of more than a couple of weeks that I haven't been pressured to join it.
Sitting in the back row of my classes I have a good view of laptop screens in front of me, and a surprising (or maybe a not so surprising?) number of people spend the majority of class playing around on their F*cebook accounts.
I admit that I'm curious as to why the F-word is so popular, but have refused to join it despite the intimidations that I'll "give in". I've always been a strong advocate of doing things for myself, because I want to - not doing things for the sake of being trendy or for the sake of not being trendy. However, with the F-word I feel it is a little different, as a big reason for my determined resistence is because I don't want to join this weird cult that 'everyone' is joining. I don't want to give people the satisfaction that I 'caved in' like I was expected to! It's a silly reason, but now that I've battled for six months against it, I feel like I owe it to myself to keep fighting.
Another big reason that I haven't joined is because I know that the F-word is something I will get hooked onto. From what I've heard it's a cool networking tool - a great way to get back in touch with people that you haven't talked to or even thought about for a long time (and I would love to do this) I have also been told about how it can function as an online photo album, which is something I'd surely put to use. On top of this, online blogs can be integrated into the F-word, which would make blogging more convenient and more accessible to people...
But that brings up a, perhaps, negative aspect of F*cebook - the accessibility. Would I really want everyone that can recognize my face to potentially be able to read up on my life? I know you can make your profile 'private', but that seems too exclusive and would require even more dedication since you'd have to pick and choose who you'd want to allow into your F-word realm.
I mean, even without being a cult member, I'm sure there's already a lot of stuff on F*cebook that could link people to me if they tried hard enough. Woohoo internet stalking - that's another topic altogether, though I guess it is closely associated with things like F*cebook and myspace.
Anyway, that's about all I have to say. Wikipedia actually has an interesting page on the F-word, which I read prior to typing up this entry. It talks about its history, the rumoured amounts of money offered to its creators to buy it ($2.3 BILLION from Google), and how it has been used in investiations by police and various other people of authority to find how people are connected to one another, and/or to gather incriminating evidence against people via photos. That's kinda creepy, no?
For the full article, click here
And for now, I'll keep resisting. Let's see how long it'll last...
Ear Candy: *Binary Love* --The Rakes
I don't think a week has gone by in the last half a year when I haven't heard this word, or a period of more than a couple of weeks that I haven't been pressured to join it.
Sitting in the back row of my classes I have a good view of laptop screens in front of me, and a surprising (or maybe a not so surprising?) number of people spend the majority of class playing around on their F*cebook accounts.
I admit that I'm curious as to why the F-word is so popular, but have refused to join it despite the intimidations that I'll "give in". I've always been a strong advocate of doing things for myself, because I want to - not doing things for the sake of being trendy or for the sake of not being trendy. However, with the F-word I feel it is a little different, as a big reason for my determined resistence is because I don't want to join this weird cult that 'everyone' is joining. I don't want to give people the satisfaction that I 'caved in' like I was expected to! It's a silly reason, but now that I've battled for six months against it, I feel like I owe it to myself to keep fighting.
Another big reason that I haven't joined is because I know that the F-word is something I will get hooked onto. From what I've heard it's a cool networking tool - a great way to get back in touch with people that you haven't talked to or even thought about for a long time (and I would love to do this) I have also been told about how it can function as an online photo album, which is something I'd surely put to use. On top of this, online blogs can be integrated into the F-word, which would make blogging more convenient and more accessible to people...
But that brings up a, perhaps, negative aspect of F*cebook - the accessibility. Would I really want everyone that can recognize my face to potentially be able to read up on my life? I know you can make your profile 'private', but that seems too exclusive and would require even more dedication since you'd have to pick and choose who you'd want to allow into your F-word realm.
I mean, even without being a cult member, I'm sure there's already a lot of stuff on F*cebook that could link people to me if they tried hard enough. Woohoo internet stalking - that's another topic altogether, though I guess it is closely associated with things like F*cebook and myspace.
Anyway, that's about all I have to say. Wikipedia actually has an interesting page on the F-word, which I read prior to typing up this entry. It talks about its history, the rumoured amounts of money offered to its creators to buy it ($2.3 BILLION from Google), and how it has been used in investiations by police and various other people of authority to find how people are connected to one another, and/or to gather incriminating evidence against people via photos. That's kinda creepy, no?
For the full article, click here
And for now, I'll keep resisting. Let's see how long it'll last...
Ear Candy: *Binary Love* --The Rakes
posted by Claudizzle at 2:35 p.m.
2 Comments:
Heheh yeah, there was a period of time in which my friends tried to get me to join Facebook as well, but I simply did not because I already have my own blog and I don't have enough time on my hands to manage another one... and I'm too lazy to start a new one... besides, sometimes I get the feeling my updating goes to waste :P is it really referred to as the "F-word"? If so, weird
Good post.
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