Facebook scares me

[baratron]

Richard uses Facebook rather than livejournal because all his paintball people are there. I wish he'd use the same "networking site" as me so I'd know when he's up to things, rather than having him announce randomly that he's out all weekend on Thursday or Friday night. I may have to get a Facebook account myself, on which I will be known by some made-up name due to my lack of desire to have my surname publically available.

Anyway, at the moment Richard's Facebook front page has a People You May Know box, which suggests that he may know some chap called Ian. It says, and I quote "You and Ian both live in London". My gosh, the boy & this other individual happen to live in the same capital city of 8 million inhabitants! So they must know each other! Er... ?

Comments

[mjl]

The "people you may know" is based on mutual friends, actually. The little box thing identifies networks in what is supposed to be an shorthand way to remind you of the connection. Everyone gets to be in one location-based network, and London is pretty much the biggest (may actually be the biggest) of them. If you are both in the same smaller network (for example, alumni of the same school, or a workplace), it does show that instead.

One thing about Facebook is that there isn't (as far as I can see) the same level of expectation that you will actually keep up with everything your "friends" are doing. Even with a relatively small number of friends, I'd have to check the stream of updates several times a day to see everything, and you can't go back more than a day or so.

[mjl]

Having now read the captions on that paintballing album, I think you should definitely join Facebook so you can do more of them. :-)