I admit to being more than a little bored with the whole social media thing, especially Facebook. I’ve got a couple hundred friends, some of whom I actually know. Friend friends are mixed in with work acquaintances and colleagues, journalists I’ve worked with, a couple of politicians, some high-school chums, a few college buddies, former girlfriends and a smattering of miscellaneous somebodies.
But it’s getting harder to make new friends. I get the occasional friend request from out of the blue, usually someone I don’t know but share several dozen friends with. I look through Facebook’s massive list of suggested friends, but find few people I know and ever fewer I’d want to friend in the seemingly endless parade of faces, half faces, avatars and offbeat poses, places or positions that folks like to use to express their innermost self on Facebook.
Which gave me an idea that might spice up my online life. I decided to start doing Facebook theme weeks to add new friends. Here are a few that came to mind:
- Blondes
- Guys with beards
- People with funny names
- People wearing funny hats
- People who use animals as their avatars
- People who use cartoons as their avatars
- Chefs
- Bald guys
- Women who focus their photo on their breasts
- People wearing winter clothes
- People drinking alcoholic beverages
- People of color
- People who wear glasses
- Redheads
- People who use a photo with more than one person in it so you can’t tell which one they are
This, I believe, is a good start and will get me through the next couple of months, at least. For a change, I’m actually looking forward to making new friends on Facebook.
Since you and I are in Florida, how about a week for people holding a fish or a surf board, and one for people on motorcycles? Also people who use their wedding photo as their profile pic even though they’ve been married for more than five years. Of course, the real fun begins when you start unfriending folks. For that, I suggest starting with anyone who posts their child as their profile pic.
Where do you stand on people who use photos of famous authors as their avatars?
Well, “Phillip,” if that is your real name, I think they should at least have the courtesy to spell their avatar’s name correctly, like the author did, with one L.
OK, but I draw the line at swamp buggies and people in T-shirts that say, “This Isn’t a Beer Belly, It’s the Engine for My Atomic Love Machine.”
Update: 10 of 10 blonds I invited to friend me last week did. So far, four of 10 bearded guys have responded. This is working out better than I anticipated.
So…blonds are friendlier than bearded guys? This is not unexpected, Santa notwithstanding.
LOL are you kidding me??? go out and take a class!