Social Net.. Working

Just out of curiosity, I searched for an old classmate’s name in Facebook as I have found an old photo with her in my memorabilia box. I clicked on the photo that I think is hers on the third page of the search results and thought about what could she be doing in her life now. I am only expecting to see her profile photo as I knew that a lot of FB users would set their privacy to ‘Only Friends’ but as her public profile opened, the trail of her life in all the years that passed was on my face in an instant. And there was her 657 friends.

I am not so much into social networking but I do have existing but ‘not-really-active’ profiles in MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Meet Up and Friendster.

Okay, Friendster had already lost its popularity but people still open it once in a blue moon and some are still posting their updates there once in awhile.

As I am writing this, I have 24 friends in Facebook. Yes, you got that right! It’s only 24 (and half of them are relatives!) And if I would be setting a day to find all of my real true friends in the planet, maybe I’ll reach the count of 50, more or less. Seems that I have a limited world, huh?!

Of course, I know a lot of people and I have a lot of acquaintances. But I don’t add all of them. Isn’t Facebook supposed to be a place to connect with people who are our ‘friends’? Or maybe, it’s just me.. or maybe, I see it in a different perspective. I can only have my ‘friends’ in my friends list and they are the ones who I allow to see and witness what’s going on in my life as I am updating my status and photos and sharing my full profile.

‘Friends’ to me defines the people I know and who knows me personally. They could be people I’ve known long way back or friends I made at work and a few acquaintances every now and then which I developed personal connections. They are the people I can relate with and who can relate to me back. But I have one weak spot here. There are a few people that I met and created a ‘more-than-just-a-plain-acquaintance’ rapport but I am anxious to add them because I ‘might’ not be accepted for whatever their reason could be, though the chances of being turned down is bleak because everyone’s business is all about adding people and that’s not a really fair thought to have in mind.

I remember there was this real estate consultant guy who I met in one of the property shows last year. He sent me a message in FB introducing himself as such and along with it was his friend request. I didn’t accepted his request because I don’t know him at all. Our connection starts and ends with both of us being in the real estate industry and nothing more. But I am always open for possibilities. I am sure that we exchanged business cards then and there can always be a reason to call, or to send SMS, or to chat, or to write an email – if one really wants to connect with you. There’s a lot of ways to be friends and once I established that connection, then you’d surely land on in my friends’ list, either you add me or I add you.

Otherwise, I have a LinkedIn professional profile wherein I can add business network connections and it doesn’t really matter to me if everyone could see my career updates and what I am doing in my professional life all along.

I don’t think Facebook is a numbers game. I still go for quality instead of quantity.

MySpace is a place to meet random people. It’s totally not a place for friendship. Users will write about themselves ( and most of the time, it's not really about 'them') and who they want to meet. People add people, like its a lottery game. Strangers would send message wanting to be friends or wanting to have a ‘relationship’ with you which is kind of weird. They would write how your profile amazed them when there is really nothing in your profile but a headshot and age and location. I don’t feel sorry for ignoring friends requests there and deleting messages from wanna-be friends. But I must say that with the hundredths of requests and messages that I received from this social networking site, there’s one or two people who made it to my friend category. One of them, I sent a message myself.

I signed-up for Meet Up to create connections and to literally meet people. Meet Up has groups that you can join to meet like-minded people according to what interests you. Its objective is to do something, learn something and share something. I joined Dubai Coffee Meet Up Group (because I love coffee), The Dubai Writers Group (because I aspire to enhance my craft), The Career Coaching Group (because I think I need help from the pros), Change Your Life and NLP Coaching (because I may get tips on how to improve my life more), Net Meet Up (because I might get a really good business opportunity here), and Serendipity in Dubai (because I am up for any surprise that would come my way). There are varieties here and the networking concept isn’t just about online connections but you go out there to meet people face-to-face who can be a business connection, some maybe recreational activity partners and some may become friends that you may add in FB.

And if there’s anything that I want to share with the world, I tweet. I don’t care if no one cares. It’s just that there are times that I feel like I need to say something to the world to give me a feeling of correlation without revealing my true identity. It was so because I am using a pseudonym at Twitter.

Oh, I almost forgot I also have a Multiply account that doesn't multiply at all. Well, I used to keep my write-ups there ages ago but then blogsites came out so I need to shift.

Everything here is from my own point of view but I would love to hear yours.

So.. Friends, anyone?

Logo Credits:  bobreyes.com, rec.udel.edu, flickr.com, gsb.columbia.edu, meetup.com