Finally Facebooked

I've succumbed to signing up for a Facebook account after receiving the "n"th email invite. Being the unconnected person that I am, these web-networking things never sustain my interest for very long -- I have Friendster and Multiply accounts but never check them out. I know Facebook is cool -- I've already seen guys with whom I was friends with in ACS on a friend of a friend's profile -- and presumably I could get in touch with them if I were so inclined. Anyway, I've come to think of these connectivity things as distorted reflections of genuine social relations (are we getting into Marx here?), though I'm sure there are proponents of these network things who love Facebook. Anyway, two thoughts:

1. How long would it take for two very separate circles of friends on Facebook to finally come full circle and link up with one another? I'm guessing that for most people, the people that are their friends on Facebook come from a very specific sphere of their lives. For me, it would be all 'em young 'uns that I've had the privilege of teaching. But because Facebook cleverly scans your email account, I also have (one) a friend from an earlier life -- when I was a student at RJ. Now -- the question would be how large would my network have to be before my "peers" link up to my "students". To make this a fair thought experiment, the link cannot replicate the social situation that got me acquainted with either circle. For example, the networking doesn't come full-circle if one of my former students now gets taught by a classmate of mine. (I don't think it can work the other way). Here's the thing. The most probable way that the circles will overlap is through blood relations. Some student somewhere is a nephew, niece, or cousin of one of my friends. But even if this were the case, the fact that Facebook culture governs who ends up being friends with another person, suggests that these 'blood' relationships probably won't get manifested in a Facebook network. (The best way to get your child off Facebook is to become friends with all his / her friends). Of course, the OTHER way that relationships are established would be virtually, through Facebook itself -- the medium is the message. But for the experiment to be 'fair', people can't be allowed to become friends via Facebook.

2. Another experiment. Say you take two people who are pretty close to each other. (For example, Ms. / Dr. Edna Tan ie the wife and I). Each person signs up for a Facebook account but can't add the other person. I'm convinced that it's possible for us to exist as Facebook accounts without our network circles touching.

Anyway, in the spirit of Facebook, here are some pictures that I've put up on my profile:

Album

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