9 random things people do on Facebook

 If in a public conversation you admit that you are not on Facebook, some people might mistake you for being ultra orthodox or downright naive, one who knows nothing about the virtues of social networking.

Few may even believe you do not wish to do a social tango with them. It is a reality that there is a little bit ofFacebook in every connected urbanite's life and everybody seems addicted. Some more than others! 

When was the last you saw your friends discussing thermal dynamics, or the finer aspects of spirituality on Facebook? Blah! Everybody's 'friends' are actually busy doing some downright silly stuff that can put any sane person off in real life. But what the heck, it is a Facebook life, so who cares? 

There are a number of things the idle Facebook users do with their 'friends', on their walls, in their inbox and even in groups. And no, we are not being suggestive. Here is a list of 9 most random things Facebookers do. Read on... 

Random Friends Requests
Every Facebook user has to brave this. And girls obviously face it far more than guys. The most common sight often noticed by users upon login is "New friend request -- Zero mutual friends?"

In fact, most women would agree that 7 out of 10 requests are from random, unknown people who are not even remotely connected to them either through a common friend, or a mutual friend. No wonder many people like to keep their Facebook content protected from random surfers. 

Facebook is not Twitter
Facebook says "What's on your mind?" It doesn't ask you "What are you doing now?" But come hail, come shine, there are some chronic Facebook addicts who like to use FB as their virtual diary and keep updating their status with minute-by-minute account of what they are doing, or would like to. In short, announcement of their every movement causes a flood of notifications and status updates on other users' Wall. Boredom at its best? 

Unwanted app spam
Real party Invitations can make you feel important but sometimes unnecessary invitations coming your way on Facebook can be annoying. Particularly when you do not want to plant a virtual tree, or adopt a pet from somebody's virtual zoo, or bother if your FB friend has become a mayor of zombie land!

Ranging from Glassdoor connections to becoming a neighbour in Farmville and all the other "Ville" requests can irk you because by sending these requests, your idle friends not just expose you to the third-party app spam leading to a flurry of notifications, but compromise your personal details at times. When you are already "Friends" on Facebook, why do you need to be 'neighbours'? 
Poking, poking, faking
Facebook Pokes follow the law of chain reaction. Someone pokes you and you poke him/her back and it goes on till eternity as nobody wants to not poke back, a bit like a game of ping pong. It is usually followed by messages "I am so beaten black and blue with all your pokes"! Too much of time wasted in virtual poking might at some point make you sit and think just "What is going on?" 

"This will make you cry" photos
A few years ago, when SMS became such a hit phenomena, it has given birth to chain SMS. Every cellphone user got dozens of those text messages that read "Forward this SMS to 20 people and the sun will rise from the west tomorrow, or you'll get through engineering exam..." Such idiots were earlier active on Orkut before SMS became big.

Ranging from random photos evoking sympathy, awe, respect, fear, ugliness, and in most cases, plain vanilla misinformation about something or the other has now made it big on Facebook. "This can make you cry..." Well it almost does with us getting the same spam posted by dozens of people over a period. 

For your kind attention please
For a religious Facebook user, this is not new. Almost everyday, you are likely to encounter vague or inexplicable messages as status updates from some people. Invariably, these are followed by people commenting and sympathizing "Oh! What happened?" "Are you okay?" but the person would never revert.

These are usually semi-psychotic attention seeking tactics. Once they have them, they are gratified. Other users can go to hell. Mercy lord! 

When private becomes public
When private becomes public, disasters do happen. Facebook has a separate service called "messages" where you can exchange messages privately but many times people start scribbling on each other's Wall which at times become a matter of public ignominy. Why then discuss minutest family detail on Walls, or wash dirty linen in, well full public view? 

I am married. Single again. Actually, complicated!
Just had a breakup? Going through post-breakup depression? Or suddenly realised you had never declared you were married all this while? Worry not, all you need to do is proclaim it via Facebook and the whole world will know.

All you need to do is change your relationship status: from single to married, from married to single again, or 'It's complicated'. In less than 30 minutes, you'll have all sort of advice, sarcastic or congratulatory messages etc pouring in from newly discovered agony aunts and uncles. Anyone can be a relationship counselor because advice is a free commodity. 

She 'Likes' my status, my shirt, my dog...

There are always some people who will "Like" just about everything and anything you put on Facebook and make you feel like a celebrity but one possibility could be that they are stalking you. It's satisfying initially, before turning funny, and then annoying when you find no matter what you do will be LIKED.