Kat with a K

Facebook-Enforced Friendship

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the hugest fan of Facebook. It's not so much that I have a problem with the concept. It's a convenient way to keep in vague touch with people, and I guess to share photos, although I never actually bother to put photos up. And memo to a large segment of you people from my high school who are friending me: Do you actually remember high school? And specifically the way that you were either mean to me or didn't notice I existed? Why do you now want to be my "friend"?

ANYWAY. All that was by way of saying that I rarely actually log in to Facebook so I haven't seen this phenomenon for myself, but apparently they are doing some sort of thing in which they decide that you have certain "friends" to whom you haven't been speaking (so far as they know) and prompt you to contact them. Repeatedly and annoyingly. I have heard from THREE different people just this week that Facebook told them to talk to me. And - what?? Why??? It's certainly not as though Facebook seems to be in any danger of people not using it. What are they hoping to achieve with this "helpful" service? It just seems so ridiculously and needlessly invasive.

And yet - and yet. Two people got this message in reference to me and we just had a good laugh, because they were people with whom I communicate literally every day, via IM and e-mail and Twitter and text messages. Just not via Facebook, because I'm never on Facebook. But the third was a friend with whom I actually hadn't spoken in a while. We used to work together but have both moved on to new jobs, and both have busy schedules, and . . . well, you know. We had a flurry of e-mails a few months ago about getting together but never figured out a time. But a few days ago she sent me a "Facebook keeps telling me to talk to you" message, and I e-mailed back, and now we have plans to have dinner together, actually live and in person, next week.

But I'm still not going to talk to her on Facebook.

Edited to add: I realized when reading Rachel's comment that I somehow missed a point I was trying to make, which was that my dislike for Facebook comes less from the purpose/utility (which I'm generally fine with) and more from the actual practical usage and interface. I don't know if it's a weird mental block I have or what, but I find it extremely clunky and difficult to use. Even when I want to do things on there, I often end up frustrated.

ALSO, I should say that all of the above notwithstanding, I will be in line to see the Facebook movie on opening night, because it is written by Aaron Sorkin. That is all.