When Facebook Worlds Collide

I first heard about Facebook after my freshmen year of college. To me, it was new and strange; college kids using the Internet to meet their peers? Isn’t that what the student lounge is for? Isn’t that what class and the sports center are for? At this point, Facebook was all the rage at a few top colleges. My friend James, who went to Harvard, was involved early. So was Leslie, who went to Cornell. In fact, my very first experience with Facebook was sometime in June of 2004, when James “friended” Leslie. I was hanging out with James at his house at the time.

My college didn’t get on to Facebook for a few more months, one of the last seven sister schools to get in on the act. Imagine that—a time when Facebook wasn’t open to the whole world, when you actually needed an .edu email address to join. Of course, as soon as I could, join I did, a decision that led to some tough choices: Should I post a serious picture or a funny one? Should I make my profile an accurate representation of myself? A philosophical or lyrical glimpse into my soul? A witty farce in which I satirize Facebook, because I’m above the whole thing anyway?

I tried to strike a chord between all three [James Joyce succeeded, college kids believe they can ...—Ed.], and posted a picture of myself riding my bike. Obviously I wanted to project the best possible image of myself: dedicated, determined, hardworking, athletic, etc. … But I also included a line in my profile about long walks on the beach so that some people (women) might find me appealing. If that line didn’t produce its desired effect, I hoped viewers would read the cliché as ironic and funny [… because they are optimistic.—Ed.].

I clicked the button to post my profile, and just like that, I was suddenly connected to hundreds of my peers, as well as long-lost friends from high school, middle school, and even preschool. Then I began to meet new people through the social tool, and I started to understand why my peers were turning to their computers, rather than a local café or bar: everyone is right there, on top of your desk. It’s like one gigantic bar, and nearly everyone you know is there. What could be better? As time went on and Facebook accounts became accessible to more people, more and more people started coming into the bar.

For months, I happily Facebooked away. In short order, I had hundreds of “friends.” I posted photos, wrote on my friends’ walls, and looked for tidbits of information about my classmates and girls I had crushes on. After all, wasn’t that the point?