I used to really like Facebook. Now I'm starting to see it more like just this random clutter. Literally, it's spam from your "friends."
Over the weekend I've gotten Fan Suggestions, Event & Group Invites to things like:
Vote for X at X High School
Can I have your phone numbers?
Have Jason Derulo come to my high school!!!!
Run for BU Student Office
Buy my condo!!!!
Qdoba Boston
New Product Survey
Please take my survey!
Some dumb politician
Become a fan of people who hate becoming fans of random events
Talking on the cellphone while on video chat!!!!!
ETC
You get my drift. About 98% of these don't interest me at all. I don't go to your high school. You didn't have my number in the first place, why would I give it to you now? I can't run for student elections, I'm a senior.
It's become such blind spam. Invite everyone you know, even if it doesn't relate to them at all. Invite your friends who are studying abroad to a birthday party next weekend in Boston. Heads up: they're not coming.
My biggest question is: why? Why invite me to an event that doesn't relate? I'm not coming to the sorority hottest man on campus event. I understand that it's a way of spreading the word about events, but wouldn't it be best to target your audience to people you know are interested and actually want to come? Put some effort and say "Yeah, Pat probably wouldn't want to come to the hottest men event, but instead my friend Jane likes men, I'll invite her." Wow! What brilliant thinking!
Or I have a better one. For BU's 100 days party, everyone was invited who was friends with the creators. Nothing against them, but it's supposed to be a seniors-only event. Don't invite juniors or people who have already graduated. That defeats the purpose of not only the event but also the invite. Or the 50 Day Party - It's called 50 days until graduation. I checked on the invite, people were invited that aren't seniors. STUPID.
My favorite funny thing is people who click not attending and then write on the wall "Sorry guys I can't make it!" Thanks for the update!
But then regarding the Fan pages. Why do I need to be a fan of Qdoba Boston? I eat there sparingly. Don't tell me to become a fan. By inviting me to become a fan of a politician, your essentially telling me your political views, and that I should follow them. Don't shove it down my throat. Let me have my own politics. That's also why I hate politics. I don't care at all about health care reform, but everyone's going nuts.
The worst thing about it, is that I'm being spammed by people who are my "friends." I can actually go through and see who sent it to me. And I scratch my head and say, 'why would I be invited to attend the bake sale?' And honestly the invite is from people who are just that - "friends" - not really my friends, just people who I'm "friends" with. They're basically using me to get a higher number of responses for their event. I'm being used by people who are my "friends."
I guess I'm being cynical. They got my attention. That was the goal. I would think for 98% of the events/groups/fan pages, they don't actually get me to join. But now I'm skeptical about everything I'm invited to that is outside of my close group of friends. I'm not going to reward my "friend" who hit "invite all friends" to this page unless I really believe in the event. It takes no effort. It's impersonal. It's rude. If there was a way they could send a message along with it, a "Hey, this is so-and-so and it means alot to me if you became a fan of it because of X" then maybe I'd consider. But I don't even know what half the things I'm invited to are because no one explains them. I have no clue what TEDx at BU is, so how can I justify going? And I looked through trying to figure it out, and just got frustrated because nowhere does it tell me what exactly TED stands for. I need more than a broad, stock explanation of "changing the world ideas" - tell me more than that. Convince me that I should come and why I should care.
It reminds me of MySpace, which was cool when it first started in 2003, but it quickly became too much, for me anyway. I understand the power it has for musicians. But outside of that, I really see it as another case of spam. Fake accounts, making your page so random that you can't navigate it, it's obnoxious. So I got out of MySpace, as many people did, and switched to Facebook. It was cooler, at that time it was more exclusive, and it was more of a controlled environment. Remember when your wall was at the bottom right corner of your page, instead of the focal point of your entire profile? What a revolutionary concept.
Maybe it's our own fault. We all friend people we aren't really friends with to begin with. The people I was friends with freshman year aren't necessarily my friends today, but according to Facebook we are. Or I'm friends with my friends' friends who I've never met. I'm really considering going through and de-friending people I don't speak to, or people who I've never spoken to, or don't speak to anymore. What's the point? So we can mutually see pictures of each other? Do I really care what my freshman year floormates are doing? So they can randomly invite me to "Need phone #s please!" ? Maybe they can see that I'm single?
Part of the blame has to be on the people creating these pages however. Everyone says that their company needs to get on Facebook/Twitter/The next big thing - but to spam me? That's not how the game is supposed to work. I'm supposed to find them, after they generate good enough content worth my time to view it and become a fan. Not just to become a fan of a random company like a Qdoba Boston without telling me why. How many groups and pages are you a fan of where you have no participation in the group? Then what's the point? I can't say I'm not guilty of that too, but the system is flawed.
I still like Facebook. I like keeping in touch with friends that aren't in Boston. It's still fun, but I get easily annoyed by people who don't really know me or care what I think.
AS I TYPE THIS I GOT INVITED TO: BECOME A FAN OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY 2010 COMMENCEMENT. NO. PURELY BECAUSE IT'S SPAM. IT'S ALL SPAM.
Sorry for yelling, does anyone else feel my pain?
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