Facebook

It's a site that I don't generally use all that often anymore. I mean, I still visit it pretty frequently, but it's more out of habit from years of constant monitoring. Usually when I click on my little Facebook tab, read whatever the hell some random friend is doing, then wonder why I'm even visiting the site in the first place. It's not like I'm steadfastly opposed to the site because of its privacy issues or something like that... it just sort of grew old, and it usually requires something to immediately catch my eye in order to keep me on the site for long.

Today I received a message, which is prompting this entire post. I would say at this point most of my messages are from Sara, since she uses Facebook instead of email to forward links and whatever else a Facebook message might better accomplish than telling me in person. This message however was not from Sara. It was not from a person I know. It wasn't some random spammer either, but a (presumably) real live person, inquiring to me with an actual issue.

What was the purpose of this? Let's backtrack a bit.

Years ago. YEARS AGO. I mean when Facebook was still only accepting .edu email addresses. I was a new Facebook user, and I was trying to make my Facebook as "hip" as possible. Which meant that I'd try to be as clever and funny as I could possibly be, and in all likelihood pretty much failing in that venture. The problem was that in that relatively undecked-out version of Facebook, the only way you could show to the world your individuality was through your profile and through the groups you were a part of.

Now, there was a group for everything, and most people tended to join groups related to people/ideas/things they liked. So... if you liked Bill Clinton, or Super Mario 64, or wearing pajamas to class, you joined the group that matched your interest. As for me, I tended to most enjoy creating groups, and tended to try to make them as absurd/stupid as possible. Let's see if I can still find some of them........... OK, so one's called "yuhgtttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt" and is devoted to people who fall asleep on their keyboard. Like I said, pretty stupid. Most of the time, one or two people joined, then left it once the novelty of the group wore off. Another one I created was in favor of establishing women's suffrage in the US, and actually got a stranger to join the group and thank me for creating it. I was proud. I was 19.

But, I also partook in a little of the whole "join a group for things you like" deal, and what I joined was mainly groups of bands I was particularly into at the time. Ween was the main one, Sigur Ros as well... all had groups readily available to join. Click, done. Another band I was really into at the time was Guided By Voices. And so I sought out to join a group devoted to them, only to discover that for some reason there was no previously existing group for the band. So I did what anyone with a need to have their musical tastes properly noted on their Facebook would do, I created a group for them. Wrote a quick description, clicked the "create group" button... done. It was now officially a group, I was a part of it... success. I would never ever spend another moment thinking about it ever again.

Except when random people send messages to me about it.

I can't say that this happens all the time (maybe 3 times over the past year), but it happens, and usually I've just ignored them. Today some guy was trying to post an advertisement for this radio show he was doing with some former member of the band, but for whatever reason Facebook wasn't allowing him to post the message. I don't know what I could do to fix what seems to be a problem on Facebook's end--but since I am listed as the admin, I'm the one to contact, I suppose.

To be honest, I didn't even know Facebook groups still existed (and I couldn't even find them for a few good minutes either), much less this one. I would've also guessed that nobody really cares about Facebook groups either, which has apparently been a false assumption on my part. Curiosity got the better of me today and I went to actually visit the group. There has been 9 posts on the wall in the past three months (posts on my wall in the past three months: 6? It's hard to count with all the useless apps popping up), some of them written as if the actual band was behind the group. Member total: 4,500. Not bad, considering my next highest total for a group I made would probably be 5. Also, considering the numbers, it might just be the most successful thing I've ever made.

I guess what I find weird about the whole thing is that although the group is by no means large and bustling, I'm having to take responsibility for something I created on a whim years ago, and then never thought about it again. It could obviously be a whole lot worse, and I could be having to deal with something I did years ago on the internet find an audience of millions... but it's a weird feeling nonetheless.

Now that I look closer, there is something I could do in order to let the poor guy's post through, so I'm going to go fix it and write back to him. Not that I am now taking my responsibilities as an ADMINISTRATOR OF A GROUP WITH CLOSE TO 5,000 MEMBERS (you're supposed to read that in a loud, booming voice) seriously, but I'd feel kind of like a dick if I were to write a post about the message and then completely ignore him in response. So there you go, dude.

It feels very weird giving a history on my internet activity.