I know that all of you here are probably more than familiar with the internet stalker phenomenon known as MySpace, however, I think MySpace just knocked off its high horse by Facebook.

Facebook is like MySpace for college students. It recently expanded its horizon on to the high school scene as well. It allows students in the same "network" or school to be connected and their profile is then only visible to those in their network or the people they have "friended" that belong to other networks. It's harder to friend random people on Facebook - it's more likely that you've been face-to-face with the person friending, in class perhaps?, even if you have never spoken to each other.

Unlike MySpace, there is no level of anonymity. Your name is how people search for you, first AND last. You can choose to display all your personal information including your cell phone number, AIM screen name, and your campus and home address so people can continue to stalk you when you're home for the holidays! Like MySpace, you can post your photos but you can create photo albums and "tag" all of your friends that appear in them. Recently Facebook added a status function which is much like an away message to let people know what you are doing RIGHT NOW and of course a blog function called "notes" that allows you to import your blogs from MySpace or LiveJournal.

Just when you think Facebook has covered all the bases...

Facebook just added a "news feed" function that redefines what it means to be a stalker. Not only will it let you see what your friends are doing without even clicking on their profiles, it let's you know when and what Jane posted on Anne's "wall" or that Bob just friended Joe or that Mary went from being "in a relationship" to "single" and it even lets you know the EXACT time it happened! No effort is required to stalk someone on Facebook, but it also means that whenever I update something on my profile or send a message to a friend, EVERYONE I'm friends with will know about it.

I'm boycotting Facebook until they get rid of this function.

Amazingly MySpace seems a heck of a lot safer now. And no, I will NOT download MySpace IM!

If you agree, sign the petition to remove the news feed!
http://www.petitiononline.com/faceb00k/petition.html

Facebook defined:

NETWORK: your social network that connects you to other people. It may be your school, your work place, or the area in which you live.

FRIENDED: (v) to act of inviting or being invited into someone's social circle. You profile can still only be viewed by friends or your original social network.

TAG: used to label your friends whether it is in a photo or a "note".

NOTE: is the term used for the Facebook blog. It allows to you "tag" friends so it will appear in their profile as well.

WALL: is the comment area.

NEWS FEED: the ridiculous new function that tells you every little fart your friends are doing.