Recently, I ran into an old friend. But this wasn’t just anyfriend, this was a Facebook friend. We had met over two years ago face to face.We had chatted, laughed and vowed to stay in touch. But here’s where it gotweird. She didn’t remember me… We’re each other’s Facebook friends so I assumed(somewhat incorrectly) that she would know me. But I was wrong.
She seemed to quickly realize I wasn’t a stalker, serialkiller or psychopath and even vaguely recalled us meeting though not enough toconvince me.
It then dawned on me that Facebook really hadn’t connectedus at all. What’s more, why was I on her friend’s list if she didn’t rememberme? Call me old-fashioned (if that’s the right term) but I always know who’s onmy list and regularly filter out certain people with whom I have “connected”with.
It happens.
You meet someone at a party and agree to connect (ugh!).Later, one of you adds the other on Facebook but time goes by and there’s nocontact either through it or any other medium. So what do you do? Why keep eachother hanging? I simply unfriend them “ without fear or favour. It’s thateasy. This incident also led me toanother thought: what’s the actual point of Facebook? If the friends I have I’malready in touch with, then what do I need Facebook for?
After some more reflection, I remembered another incident. Iwas in London a few years ago and met up with an old school mate. Through thepower of Facebook, we were able to track down three other school mates and onthe same night had a mini-reunion. That I realized would not have been possible(or at least much harder) without Facebook.
So all in all, Facebook is what you make of it. If you’rehappy with FarmVille so be it. If you want to post all your food pictures viaInstagram you can do that too. If you want to use it simply as an easyfacilitator to stay in touch with people, I think that’s where I see it.Because Facebook doesn’t help me make new friends, it merely helps ‘contacts’connect on their own terms “ whether they remember to or not.
Rahul Ahmad is Online Editor, TheGoan.net
This is his take on technology, culture, general banter andbrain food
