Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Facebook Quirks and Stalking

For a while now, I have noticed on Facebook, alongside the right hand information feed, there have always been a few (about three) people listed there as "People You Might Know" and below that, it states how/why/when you might know the person.

My personal favorites are the ones that link to my college. I don't fudge on where I went, what I studied and eventually, what year I graduated.

About every day, I'll see a person, like Joe Blow. Then it will say under the person's name: "You and Joe both went to Marshall." Well, yeah. Me and about 16,000 undergrads went there during those years too. So, these opportunities to "know a person" are slim.

And, I majored in Journalism. If Joe majored in Geology, the chances we'd have of meeting on campus would be astronomical. See, even a COLA (College of Liberal Arts) grad can figure that out.

Also, every so often, a person I do truly know will pop up in the sidebar over there.

The way I see it is: If they're popping up on my sidebar, I might very well be popping up on their sidebar. If they want to befriend me online... that's their deal.

Facebook is a mystery to me and I never use it to "look up" people I might know. I'm much more comfortable with MySpace and that's the one I use most often.

Also, Blogger has offered a new feature - similar to Twitter, in a way - that allows you to "follow" blogs you like to read. I have a massive list already.

When the blogger I follow has a new post, it's listed in my dashboard area of my blog.

I have many favorites who are regular and faithful posters and some who just don't have the time and post when they get a chance. Either way is fine by me, but with the "follow" feature, I will be notified of a new post and don't have to go down my bookmarked list to find new stuff.

It's a handy feature.

So, if you've noticed me stalk... I mean, following you - then it just means your posts show up as new for me in my "homepage" on Blogger.

If I read and comment on your blog and I haven't added you to follow yet, just be patient. I'm trying to add people as I go along.

And, after I add you to follow, eventually I'll get around to adding you to the blogroll.

Happy Thursday, Stalkees!

22 comments:

  1. I knew it!! All the Doctors kept saying that nobody was following me, but I KNEW IT!! I was right! Muhahahahahaha Now I just need to convince them that the aliens really are monitoring me from space and reading my thoughts! Damn aliens abducting me every other week for anal probes... well actually I don't have anything else planned on the weekends anyway, but dammit the least they could do is buy me dinner first.

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  2. I love getting friend requests from high school classmates who were never my friends.

    I wish you could block the "People you might know" box. If I wanted to find them I would.

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  3. I spend so much time on blogs that I can't do Facebook and MySpace - I'd never sleep!

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  4. I know exactly what you mean about "the people you might now" feature - except, I keep getting almost the same people all the friggin' time!! WTF? I KNOW more than 3-6 people went to my school!
    Also - love the "follow" feature on blogger - the problem is, I "follow/stalk" waaaay too many blogs! :)

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  5. Ron - LOL. I think I'd insist on dinner first too!

    RZ - I get that too. How do you handle it? If you say no, they'll realize you rejected it and if you say yes, then you've got someone on there who is virtually a stranger, so I feel I have to watch what I say, etc.

    Kenju - I've about reached blog saturation myself. LOL.

    TGG - you and me both, honey. I probably have more on my stalking list than on my blogroll list!

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  6. I like Facebook - and have not tried MySpace. I wish I did it more - I just might now.
    I am a faithful daily reader of your blog - it's one of my favorites!

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  7. Damn....I'm such a rookie...never been on Facebook or Myspace in my life...altho I wish my daughter would spend time on her books than on those sites ;)

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  8. I know what you mean about Facebook being confusing..I don't really "get" it either. But Bloggers new function (which they jacked from Wordpress btw, just sayin') explains why my Dashboard just told me all these people "linked" to me in their blogs and then I click it and I'm like they didn't link to me at all...WTF??

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  9. I'm glad you have that "feed". I am down to posting practically once a month! It's pathetic, really.

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  10. Oddly, the majority of the people who "follow" me are people who never comment. Weird.

    I don't like the follow feature. It lists so many posts if you follow a lot of people. I just use bloglines.

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  11. I don't mind a little mutual stalking at all. In fact favorite stalking song is "strange and beautiful". Gets me in the mood.

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  12. Momma - thanks! I usually just pop by on MySpace & Facebook to see if there's anything new I need to know.

    Efen - They're both good social networking sites. Depends on how much you're into that sort of thing...something tells me you probably wouldn't be into it. :-)

    Vinomom - that is weird. I wondered if the Wordpress people could somehow "know" I was following them. Maybe that's what they mean by "linked". If you click on my profile, your blog should be listed as one I follow and it appears as a link... Curious.

    Lauren - I think I tried to add you and got an error message. I'll keep trying. In the meantime, I do pop by every few days! :-)

    3C - It is overwhelming sometimes, but I don't understand bloglines...I should probably take a minute to check it out, huh?

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  13. Robynbeth - Glad to know I'm not the *only* stalker out there!

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  14. I have not ventured into Facebook or Myspace...I do not want people to find me. Is that weird? I love your blog, and I do check it out a few times a day b/c I love all the comments.

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  15. facebook is a mystery to me too. I haven't seen that feature on blogger, I will have to find it.

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  16. I'm starting to feel that way about Facebook, but MySpace (which is way more festive if you want it to be)is full of kids being very bad! I'm not too keen on either of them anymore. It was fun for a while, but I think I'm enjoying blogs much more. I get to see what tou're doing or thinking about every day! Uh, I think that makes me a stalker...

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  17. i don't know how to do all that stuff....I just sit here for hours and read. I love your posts....hughesnet doesn't always though

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  18. Stalk me all you like, I know where you live ;-)

    Congrats on #15! I think my wedding song will be "Whale & Wasp" by Alice in Chains. Its a beautiful song. No lyrics, just music.

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  19. Just last night I accepted a friend request on Facebook from a girl from high school who never had two words to say to me...and the only reason I did was because I was curious about HER also private profile. Got sucked in again....sheesh....

    I like MySpace better too. It's more fun to play around with the graphics :)

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  20. Gigi - the comments are the best part!!

    Chris - it should be on your "homepage" where you can create a new post, etc.

    MsPulp - I think they both serve a purpose. I have some friends on one, some on the other and many on both... So, I just hang in there!

    rosemary - I love your blog too. I'm staaaaalking you, too, btw!

    Inanna - LOL. And vice versa! I'll have to try to find that song and listen to it. Tonight.

    Laura - I get lured in by "friends" like that too. We're two of a kind, that's for sho!

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  21. I have yet to get sucked in by Facebook. I refuse to get on board with it because I know good and well I'd be an addict.

    It took me long enough to kick my MySpace addiction!!!!!

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  22. Lovely sharp post. Never thought that it was this easy. Extolment to you!.

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