Datech
10-12-2009, 03:07 PM
So I couldn't get to sleep last night, and I had a weird thought about my current social network, Facebook. I have over 500 Facebook 'friends'.... No, I know that I've had over 500 friends in my life time. My high school graduating class was around 850 people large, and my entire highschool had 4200 kids in it when I graduated. Add college to that, and I'm pretty sure I've met 500 separate people with facebook accounts.
But how many of them do I actually KNOW? I used to go through my friends list about every 6 months and clean out people I don't actually know or want to keep in touch with (I've had a Facebook account for about 5 years), and it kept my list fairly concise on people I was actually friends with. Lately however, with the rigors of Georgia Tech and life actually setting in, friendly contact has been reduced to a small circle of friends. So what happened to the other 500?
Then I came up with the lofty idea of what I'm calling Facebook Connect. Basically, my goal is to reconnect with ALL of my Facebook friends by contacting each one, individually, and in a personal manner. I spent about 30 minutes last night, and another 30 minutes today doing it, and I'm only half way through the friends that start with A.
I'm contacting each one by sending each friend a message individually that follows this basic guide:
Hey <Facebook Friend>,
As you can tell, my name is Daniel VanBeek. You probably know me; after all, we’re friends on Facebook. This message may seem a little weird, but it’s a project I’m starting for myself that will let me connect, and reconnect, with my ‘friends’ on Facebook. You’re getting this message because we haven’t spoken in a while, if ever, and I want to make sure that I still know who you are, or why we’re friends, or why we think we know each other.
Granted, the bulk of this message is the same message I copied and pasted to all my other Facebook ‘friends’ that I want to connect with, so let’s move on to something more personal. Below are the top five things that I, Daniel VanBeek, remember about you, <Facebook Friend>:
<5 things I remember about them>
Now, that is the list I have so far. I’m honestly trying to reach out to all my long lost friends, and hopefully some new acquaintances, so please take some time and respond to this message. If you don’t know where to start, here are some questions I would love for you to answer:
Are you still in school? If so, where and what are you studying?
Do you have a job? What are you hoping to do with that position?
Do you still you keep in touch with some of our mutual friends? (Feel free to check Facebook’s Mutual Friend list if you don’t know of anyone immediately)
<Personal question tailored to the person>
This Facebook Connect thing is a little project I just recently came up with, and I would really appreciate it if you helped me reconnect with you and others. Also, if you feel you’ve disconnected with too many of your Facebook friends feel free to use this message format as a way to reconnect.
Thanks,
Daniel VanBeek
Myspace was a big baddy when it came to "How many friends can I say I have?", but it is less so with Facebook. Right now this is a personal thing, and possibly material for my blog, but if you like the idea feel free to use the same format.
What do you think?
But how many of them do I actually KNOW? I used to go through my friends list about every 6 months and clean out people I don't actually know or want to keep in touch with (I've had a Facebook account for about 5 years), and it kept my list fairly concise on people I was actually friends with. Lately however, with the rigors of Georgia Tech and life actually setting in, friendly contact has been reduced to a small circle of friends. So what happened to the other 500?
Then I came up with the lofty idea of what I'm calling Facebook Connect. Basically, my goal is to reconnect with ALL of my Facebook friends by contacting each one, individually, and in a personal manner. I spent about 30 minutes last night, and another 30 minutes today doing it, and I'm only half way through the friends that start with A.
I'm contacting each one by sending each friend a message individually that follows this basic guide:
Hey <Facebook Friend>,
As you can tell, my name is Daniel VanBeek. You probably know me; after all, we’re friends on Facebook. This message may seem a little weird, but it’s a project I’m starting for myself that will let me connect, and reconnect, with my ‘friends’ on Facebook. You’re getting this message because we haven’t spoken in a while, if ever, and I want to make sure that I still know who you are, or why we’re friends, or why we think we know each other.
Granted, the bulk of this message is the same message I copied and pasted to all my other Facebook ‘friends’ that I want to connect with, so let’s move on to something more personal. Below are the top five things that I, Daniel VanBeek, remember about you, <Facebook Friend>:
<5 things I remember about them>
Now, that is the list I have so far. I’m honestly trying to reach out to all my long lost friends, and hopefully some new acquaintances, so please take some time and respond to this message. If you don’t know where to start, here are some questions I would love for you to answer:
Are you still in school? If so, where and what are you studying?
Do you have a job? What are you hoping to do with that position?
Do you still you keep in touch with some of our mutual friends? (Feel free to check Facebook’s Mutual Friend list if you don’t know of anyone immediately)
<Personal question tailored to the person>
This Facebook Connect thing is a little project I just recently came up with, and I would really appreciate it if you helped me reconnect with you and others. Also, if you feel you’ve disconnected with too many of your Facebook friends feel free to use this message format as a way to reconnect.
Thanks,
Daniel VanBeek
Myspace was a big baddy when it came to "How many friends can I say I have?", but it is less so with Facebook. Right now this is a personal thing, and possibly material for my blog, but if you like the idea feel free to use the same format.
What do you think?