Watch out, incoming sheep!

Much has been said, by much more insightful and brighter minds than mine, about Facebook. Its explosion onto the web-scene this year; it came, saw and conquered. It's become a verb, I heard someone say the other day 'oh, don't worry, I'll facebook you'. News of small changes (they lost the mandatory 'is' in the status updates a few weeks ago) make big waves. And it's added whole new words and new meanings to existing words to our vocabulary. Poking and even superpoking have fast become common parlance, albeit caught in a semiotic minefield (is poking a sign of sexual advances (as the 348,755 members of the 'Enough with the poking already let's just have sex' Facebook group no doubt think)? Or is it an innocent way of attracting someone's attention?).

A few days ago, in a conversation with my housemate, I got thinking about Facebook-etiquette. When is it appropriate to throw sheep at people, or use the force on? Or poke them? What do you write on their walls (I've read stuff other people have written on friends' walls which I felt might not have been quite appropriate for other's eyes)? And is it ever ok to break up on Facebook (for me, that would be a firm no)? Do I really want to know if someone else breaks up? How much information is too much information? And is there any place left to hide? Will Facebook (and its local equivalents, Hyves is the Dutch one) become as much part of our daily lives as email?

Facebook makes some interesting mental connections for me too. I logged in today to find two of my friends, who in real life don't know each other, have never met, and probably never will, have both added the same application, which my homepage delights in telling me: 'A.M and H.S. have added the Funwall application'. How odd. For these two people, who have no idea the other exists, to end up in the same sentence. And then got connected in my head.

[photo: what a beautiful sight... Penguins all over at Schiphol airport]

Comments

[Simba]

Oops, just sent you a Facebook invite & Lo behold, you already seem to be on it! :) Ping me on...

[Ross]

Now if I could only poke your blogposts...