My Social Network "Friend" Rules

This post was powered by last Wednesday's episode of South Park focusing on social networking, specifically Facebook. South Park always does a good job of providing some kind of perspective on current event issues. I may not always agree with their message and may not always laugh at how obscene/bizarre their jokes are, but I think there is a message.

Anyway, the concept was how people take Facebook/social networks too seriously. How many friends you have vs. me, why am I not friends with you? Who are you poking? ETC. Sometimes we take it too seriously. People joke about it, but we do.

I was thinking about social network friends while I was at the gym (yes, the gym. I'm really cool I promise.) There's so many, dare I say too many, social networks out there, all with varying and different purposes and "rules" to follow. It's kind of getting obscene, isn't it?

So I thought I'd post how I'm *trying* to follow the social networks. These aren't really "new," but just my opinions.
Facebook - About two weeks ago I wrote another post about how frustrated I am getting with Facebook and how it has spiraled into spam. I'm really thinking about purging most of my "friends" - people I don't talk to anymore (or ever.) I don't care what my friend count is or if I can see people's pictures of what they're up to - I'm tired of the spam. So, SO, tired.

I'd say Facebook should really only be people you know and have a decent connection with. Not someone you just met last night and may never see again. Definitely not people you've never talked to before but seen in class/work/life. Andddd I think you have to put your foot down on old high school friends or ex-flings etc. No deal. There's too much information that they can see. I'd stray away from co-workers too. Too much potential for problems. That's not how it is at where I work, but every place is different.

Oh and also - remove the "invite all" button from events, cause it's gotten so annoying.
Twitter - Simple, any and everything. BUT they have to have something interesting to say. You don't deserve to be followed by anyone if you tweet stupid stuff like "Ugh I'm so tired all day" or "I'm eating ice cream" or emo lyrics about your emotional relationship problems. Smart tweets. Conversational tweets. Sharing RELEVANT information, not worthless information. It's hard, but it makes Twitter actually worth it.
LinkedIn - It's talked about as "for professionals" but as a college student, how does that work? I won't have a big network if I exclude my peers in school, because even if I meet some "professionals" I probably will not have enough of a connection to be "linked." And who do I link to? My bosses? People working at other firms in the area? How do we classify a link. This is still very much to be determined as far as I'm concerned.

Foursquare - This one is the most interesting to me, because it's so new. What's the policy? I don't know. However, I do know that I don't really want to be friends with EVERYONE. A kid from high schol (who I NEVER spoke to) sent me a friend request on Foursquare. Why? I could care less where this kid is. I really believe this should be almost the most exclusive network of the four. I only really want to know about people who come into my day-to-day contact. I don't need to know where my freshman floor-mate is. I probably never will. So let's not be friends.

While typing this post, I just thought about the entire concept of "friending people." I've actually almost become anti-friend requesting anyone anywhere but Twitter. I don't need to be your Facebook friend for us to be friends. Just cause we work together doesn't mean we could/should be LinkedIn. I also think it's kind of weird to find someone on these networks and friend them. It crosses over from being "friends" to stalking. I've also grown cynical.

But what about when you get a friend request from someone i.e. co-worker/parent/ex/random hook up/the random person you met last night/the significant other you're seeing/the dork from high school/the quiet girl from class/AND SO ON. What do you do? When is it okay to say no? In the situation of the kid who friended me on Foursquare, I actually clicked no the first time. Then he sent it again. AGAIN. How desperately does this dude want to know where I am? That's why it's weird.

But in the situation of like Twitter, someone's said to me "why don't you follow me back" and I straight up said "because I don't find your tweets interesting." It sparked a debate, and I didn't cave in. Still don't follow that person. And their tweets still aren't interesting. Situations like that are so unbelievable and frustrating because it doesn't matter. We don't have to be friends. It won't really change my day. It's awkward to say no though. It should just be normal.

It would be really nice to just have one network. That covered everything. It could of been Facebook, but people like options & different things. Tweets are the same as Facebook updates. Facebook chat is the same as AIM/Gchat. But nothing it's not all connected. You can contact someone in 17 different ways. It's too much. It's like that scene in He's Just Not That Into You, but not in a romantic sense. Too many methods, all with too many rules.

I want to hop in the DeLorean and go back to 1985. A time when people had to talk to each other in person or over the phone instead of text. Sometimes it is just TOO much.