Facebook was the HOTTEST phenomenon of 2007. Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo all want a piece of this college student’s invention, which is now worth 15 billion dollar. It’s fun and useful, and you look so pre-subprime-mortgage-crisis if you are not on it. Not only do people in my social circle use it to invite friends to secret hen parties or birthdays, they talk about Facebook when they actually meet up! Then the race home and upload pictures of where they had been, and whom they had fun. Strange? I agree. Loser? I say no. With a list of partners in crime (confirmed attendees) and a main perpetrator (your best friend, the organizer) hooked to Facebook, it has become the perfect party planning tool.
Keeping up with Friends
In November alone, I have received 4 invitations to weddings, 3 invites to grand openings, and numerous party invites on Facebook. What happened to snail mail invitation for these formal functions, or just simply picking up the phone? Even email seems to have become unfashionable, unless it’s the invitation for parties from Facebook! Next thing you know, MeetNLunch will be sending its confirmation for your dates through Facebook!
The calendar in Thailand network is a treasure. It shows all the upcoming events, when, where and who is attending added by people in that network. I find it highly useful for planning the timing of your so-called gathering, such that it would not clash with say, festive Loy Kratong, or another massive event that all your friends will flock to instead of yours. And not all events have to be a drunkfest like full moon parties at Koh Pha-ngan, you are allowed to hold sporting events and road trips to do volunteer work. So get creative and plan new ideas to get together.
Thailand Marketplace is another tool I used to advertise items for sale or wanted. About a month ago, MeetNLunch had a job opening for a PR and customer service staff, and to my surprise, about 30 people applied and most of them are over qualified. In the end, a very capable young Thai lady, who spoke four languages fluently, snatched up the job. The advantage of Facebook over other sources of classified ads is that, you get to check out your candidates’ lifestyle before hiring, which is something you cannot normally do.
Discover long lost friends or enemies
Reconnecting with primary school friends is sweet, but it can have its downside. Your buried secrets may come back to haunt you unexpectedly. Imagine the horror of waking up one morning to find your junior-high self greeting the world on Facebook, and you thought it would never be revealed! The braces, the thick glasses, the pimples, and God forbid that “J Monthon” hairdo were not you. No, you’ve blocked that one out years ago. And now it’s all coming back with the added bonus that the picture uploaded by your friends got “tagged” with your name, saving you the trouble of doing so. Pleading for the pictures to be taken down also doesn’t work, I tried already.
Bitten by a vampire? Werewolf? Got Superpoked?
Got sent eggs that hatched into a chainsaw? I personally enjoy giving “gifts” away to my friends, just to let them know that I still think of them even though there isn’t much to update about my dull life. Facebook’s secret Christmas gift is a nice touch, not opening itself until Christmas to reveal what is inside. Fluff friend app is the new Tamagoshi (virtual pet). You can feed, pet, earn points by petting your friends’ fluff, bet in the fluffs race to earn more points, and buy habitats for your fluff. These so-called “Apps” make Facebook much more fun than its peer Hi5. But the number of invites to use ridiculous apps is getting annoying. Be selective, or else you ended up cluttering your profiles with junk.
Stalking
You can use privacy setting to limit who see your profile. But once you have established the contact, your admirer can browse the travel pictures, dinner details, what you were up to last night, who your friends are, what books you have read, where you work, it all becomes visible. And Facebook does not tell you which of your friends have been obsessing over your profile.
Addiction
One girl reportedly checks in at least 25 times a day and got angry at her friends for not commenting on her latest pictures. Collection of gifts, booze, petting virtual pets, and obsessive compulsion to update your status up-to-the-minute are some common symptoms.
Be careful of sharing too much private information, and don’t use it at the office. Your IT administrators are probably Facebook addicts too, so they know all about it!
Interesting facts:
• There are 39,510 users listed as belonging to Thailand network at the time of writing.
• The 5 most popular apps are FunWall, Top Friends, Super Wall, Movies, and SuperPoke!
• Facedouble, a celebrity look-alike app shows that I am Gisele Bundchen. That’s very flattering, but I think not. Note to female readers who do not use Facebook: Gisele is a leading model of Victoria’s Secret, and you can look up her profile on Wikipedia. Or, just ask those guys who are always glued to FHM or Maxim.
• Microsoft won the bid for Facebook, putting its estimated value right among the Fortune’s 500s.
