I know it would seem kind of silly to suggest that I would worry about my online persona, after all I write a blog revealing more about myself than any sane person would, but I just find Facebook kind of creepy and just “Too much information!”.  Initially I created an account on Facebook on the advice of another friend, as a way to promote my business online.  I’m a graphic artist and illustrator and I thought it would be a good way to get some free exposure.  But the exposure I got wasn’t exactly what I was looking for.

Okay, I admit it.  I have an extremely fragile ego.  My skin is thinner than a bad comb over – not that there are good comb overs.  After creating my account, I’d look at that little box in the corner that said I had 0 (ZERO) friends.  I looked for a way to turn that little feature off on my profile but no such luck.  If I was going to advertise myself to the world, it was going to have to be done as a friendless dope.  I decided such a profile wasn’t exactly going to help my business and quickly deactivated my account and forgot about it.

Then, I was invited to join a Facebook group and I thought I’d resurrect my account.  A couple people signed up as friends and I thought, “Hey, this might be a fun thing to do after all.”  Then I hit “The Wall”.  The Wall is this place on Facebook where you can type in how your feeling and other notes.  I guess that’s okay, if you want to reveal to your friend when you’re constipated or experiencing PMS symptoms.  I wouldn’t divulge such information for the whole world to see, but if that’s some people’s cup of tea – great.  But then I realized my Wall was detailing my every move on Facebook.

“Kris has just searched for “Home remedies for hemorrhoids.”

“Kris has just searched for an old love interest that her husband doesn’t know about.”

“Kris has just picked her nose.”

Okay, I made those things up but you get the point.  Too much information!  And then I began seeing comments from other friends of friends of friends.  I had no idea who the heck these people were on my Wall but it didn’t really bother me.  What really got me was an invitation by two friends for me to take an IQ test.  Okay, so either they knew I was super smart and just needed a score to make it official, or they believed I was an idiot and wanted it confirmed.

Here’s some screenshots of my IQ Challenge:

The first one just simply stated that (2) friends had challenged me to an IQ test.

Facebook IQ Challenge Nice Screenshot

I refreshed the page and got quite a different message.  Not only do my (2) good ol’ buddy ol’ pal “friends” want to challenge my to an IQ test, they also think I’m dumb!  Those are some real nice friends!  It was bad enough to start out friendless, and when I finally had a couple friends they thought I was an idiot!  WTF!

Facebook IQ Challenge

Facebook IQ Challenge 2 Screenshot

I reloaded the page again and the scores of my 2 “friends” were now different.  Mind you I only had two friends to begin with, so how could they now have different scores?  Uhm…  I wonder how many ex-friends have been created by this stupid advertisement?

The Horrors of Facebook

So I started Googling and found some other horror stories from other Facebook users who were now either ready to jump off of the Golden Gate Bridge because their Facebook profile had turned into some hideous, embarrassing tell-all book, or they were spammed, scammed and phished to death by ridiculous aps like the IQ test above.

One poor guy found himself reading updates from a former girlfriend who was friends with one of his friends.  He now was tortured with messages from the woman he was still in love with who had now found the man of her dreams.  It was like a knife to his heart each time he logged on and read how great this new Mr. Wonderful was in her life.  He soon began to wonder if he’d receive notifications each time his ex-girlfriend and her knight in shining armor, minus his shell, had sex!  Too much information!

I think I’ll stick with my blog where I can control my persona.  I’m flawed.  I admit it.  I’m off my rocker once in a while.  I freely admit it but I’m not an open book.  If I search for hemorroidal remedies, it’s going to be done in private!