I'd like to believe Mark Zuckerberg had good intentions in creating
Facebook. Even the tag-line is a charmer: "Facebook helps you connect and share with the people in your life." But what happens when staying in touch translates to just too much information?
Once you've finally confirmed the friendship with your new love interest (after a little waitlist action, of course), you both go on to do the initial stalking process-clicking quickly through the first 100 pictures, glancing over recent wall posts and verifying he's actually single as he claimed. No recent date-y pictures, check. No flirty wall posts, check.
Single, chec ... oh wait.
This happened to a friend of mine. She met a guy at a bar, and though he was a bit aggressive, he was H-O-T. Casual exchanges followed, including some flirty words and some dirty dancing. The next day, she received a text from her new man, but instead of asking her on a date, he asked for her last name - so he could friend her on Facebook. Freaking weird, but whatever.
A few days later, she accepted and embarked on a quick stalk sesh. Not only was this skanky college grad in a relationship, his long-distance girlfriend was just barely in college and was coming to visit in "9 days babyyyy!!!" Talk about a hot mess.
At times, Facebook does provide the info we need quickly and painlessly.
But what happens when the information isn't legit - or when it, literally, points you in the wrong direction?
One of my guy friends told me about a girl he wanted to date so badly that he took a class to get to know her better (he also admitted that this was pretty lame). He friended her on Facebook, and once she accepted, he gave her the once-over. Much to his dismay, she was interested in women. By the time he got used to the fact that his dream girl swung in the other direction, he found out her boyfriend had changed it to mess with her - tragic.
And while studying abroad, Facebook can stir up even more drama. Since your new friends don't know your track record, you could potentially live dual lives.
While abroad, my roommate began receiving persistent booty texts from a guy on our program who was rumored to have a girlfriend at school. When my friend confronted his sketchy moves, he assured her the relationship was done and he was a free man. A quick flip of her laptop revealed that his status wasn't single, but it was nonexistent. Two laptops and two Facebook accounts later, it was solved: he was in a relationship. He had conveniently blocked his relationship status from my friend but had failed to block me. Maybe Facebook is just plain TMI, but please, get some game.