We are all guilty of Facebook stalking. All of us! And I’m going to tell you that I think that’s perfectly okay. Isn’t that what Facebook is for? The hard part about Facebook stalking is that you can never let people know that you do it or else you will be known as a creep (even though the people calling you a creep Facebook stalk as much as you do, if not more).

If you’re reading this and you’re in denial that you are a Grade-A Facebook stalker or you think you’re a Facebook stalker and just want it confirmed, check out these five signs that you are a certified NORMAL PERSON BECAUSE WE ALL DO IT. Read More »

[It's pretty obvious that the average CollegeCandy reader has some very strong opinions. Opinions that she likes to share with everyone on the site. Sometimes with mean words. We love a strong woman (unless she happens to be charging at us with her fists raised), so we thought we'd give her a real forum to discuss her thoughts, feelings, and perspectives. Every Friday I'll be featuring a hot topic (like transgender basketball players!) and leaving it up to you, the readers, to duke it out. So, read it and get your debate on in the comments section below!]

Who among us has never Facebook stalked? Anyone? Seriously, anyone? It’s easy and mostly harmless, so we all do it a little bit sometimes to see how much less awesome your ex’s new girlfriend is than you, or to find out if that cutie in you American Lit class is single (and into women). It’s not a big deal, right? But when does it cross the line? According to research, one third of women check their significant other’s web browser history to see what their partners been surfing and 1 in 10 has actually hacked into their SO’s email and personal accounts to keep an eye on them. Is this just a natural extension of our tech savvy, in-everybody’s-personal-business lives, or has technology turned us into creepy Fatal Attraction candidates?

On one side, I totally get it. You’re using your guy’s laptop and the history is right there, so easy to check; it’s the exact same allure that draws guys to want to know what we carry in our purses. It’s probably not that most of these women are checking to see if their guy is frequenting online dating sites or creepy fetish porn; more than likely it’s nothing more than simple curiosity, the same way you check out what’s on someone’s bookshelf to see what they like to read. The email thing, I have a little harder time with, but still, if there’s an insecurity there and a quick peek will make a girl feel better, then as long as the guy doesn’t have anything to hide, what’s the big deal?

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Jimmy Kimmel has deemed November 17^th National Unfriend Day.  Yes, he’s talking Facebook and he’s insisting that you don’t really have 763 “friends” in real life, so why should you online?  Time to trim the fat, people!

Initially I thought this was a great idea.  Eliminating all those random welcome week acquaintances and sophomore year World Civ group project people would be pretty great.  I mean, seriously, who are these people anyway?  Do I care that your sister just had a baby?  Do I want to know what movie you watched last night with your mom?  Should you be posting pictures of your new tramp stamp?  Hell no.

But upon thinking some more, hitting that “unfriend” button could induce a sort of high.  It would start with people you’ve never heard of, increase to the ones you shared a few classes with, and end when you’ve cut all online ties to ex-boyfriends and old hook-ups.  Holy batman, you can’t stalk them anymore!  You can’t see if their new girlfriend is prettier than you!  You can’t know if they’re posting mysterious song lyrics that may or may not point to the beautiful moment you shared in the back of the bar last Thursday night when his hand was up your shirt!  What have you done!?

While I don’t think you should skip this new holiday altogether, I encourage you to observe it with a modicum of restrain.  Here’s a cheat sheet on who to delete now and who to keep around for a little longer:

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[What you are about to read is going to sound really creepy (which is why the writer asked for her name to be removed - she's got a reputation to uphold!). Once you get past that, though, you'll be thanking us. We guarantee it...because this makes the Facebook Creeper Tracker look like nothing]

This past weekend, Kelly and her girlfriends visited a downtown bar to spice up their usually predictable nighttime routine. As the drinks poured, their vision blurred. Eventually, a group of cute MBA students in the area approached the college seniors.

Kelly began chatting it up with John, a cute but slightly nerdy part of the pack. He had graduated from a prestigious Ivy League university, was absolutely adorable, and seemed perfect in most senses of the term. One thing led to another and three vodka sodas later, Kelly was standing outside the bar making out with John.

The next day, Kelly and her roommate woke up with headaches. These were partially due to the over-sugared cocktails they consumed all night, but also because they had no idea who these MBA-men were. What were their names? What was their deal? Who on earth had Kelly made out with and why did he have the most generic name ever?

Several years ago, these questions would have remained unanswered. And the only way to discover the identities of said men would be to invest in some ski masks and physically stalk them, which is not only creepy but borderline illegal. In 2010, though, stalking is now more socially acceptable and easy. Thanks to the invention of several social media and search engine sites, the girls simply picked up their laptops and got to work. Read More »

No, we’re not kidding. Unlike Betty White, we at CollegeCandy don’t think Facebook is a waste of time. (And unlike my dad, we don’t think it’s called ‘SpaceBook,’ but I digress.) We’re FB addicts. We understand the obsession. We know that Facebook is a treasure chest of information and perusing it is a better use of our time than studying or working out or interacting with people in the flesh.

But while there’s already so much that can be gained from the hours upon hours we all spend on there, we’d like to reward you even more.

With money.
Dinero.
The green stuff.
Cashola.
Benjamins.

Here’s the deal. As many of you already know, CollegeCandy’s got a Facebook Fan Page (which may or may not have been created to give us a reason to FB-stalk during the work day…). We’ve already got nearly 5,000 amazing adoring fans but we want more.

And we’re leaving that up to you, our popular pals! Read More »

When did Facebook turn into my verbally-abusive ex-boyfriend?

He’s full of empty promises and is always “I really care about your privacy and I’m not going to show the whole world that photo of you doing naked Olympics.” Then he turns around the next day and broadcasts everything to the world with a “seriously, you’ll end up liking the fact that everyone, including your mother, knows exactly what you did this weekend. And if you don’t, then go back to that dirty heathen of a boyfriend, Myspace, and see if I care.”

And now he’s done it again. He’s introduced a Foursquare for Facebook, called Facebook Places, that takes everyone’s favorite stalker application to the next level. Not only will your friends, frenemy’s, second cousins, and co-workers be able to check into locations, but they’ll also be able to check you into locations. Apparently they’re claiming that it’s just like tagging someone in a photo because it has a detag option. Except tagging an ugly photo of me on Facebook in not equivalent to telling the Facebook community that I’m in the third stall at the Olive Garden on Grove street.

Change your privacy settings today or prepare to see your entire life ruined. Think I’m exaggerating? Just look at my Wikipedia-approved reasoning:

1. No More Lying – So you wanted to get out of your friend’s birthday dinner (because she always insists on wearing a tiara and “kiss me, it’s my birthday sash”) and made up a story about having to cram for a hugeeee test the next day. Instead you go out with some other friends to happy hour where they tag you as being at the bar. Add some photo proof to that tag and you’re about to be defriended…in real life. And that’s the least of your issues. How about the fact that you got out of your boyfriend’s great aunt’s funeral by telling a small white lie that you were really, really sick — only to be location-tagged as being at the school’s biggest tailgate party ever.

2. No More Privacy – Facebook stalking is a totally healthy part of life, real life stalking is a total calling card to spend some time in prison. The two are about to overlap pretty quickly when your stalker starts literally following you from class (because your lab partner tagged you) to the library (because your freshman your roommate spotted you across the stacks and tagged you) to Starbucks (because somehow the barista and you are Facebook friends and she’s trying real hard to be web-savvy). Read More »

I am a Facebook creeper.

I have this compulsive clicking disease when it comes to my news feed. All of a sudden its 12:33 AM on a Sunday and I am looking at photo 433 out of 602, trying to figure out who this person is and how I even got to their page.

It is a SERIOUS problem.

I over analyze guys that I hook up with by the state of their Facebook wall, I get jealous of ex-friends spending drunken nights together, and I stalk profiles of people I know who are abroad like there is no tomorrow. It affects my school work and my overall productivity. This is why I decided to quit Facebook cold turkey and give up my creeper tendencies for one loooonggg month.

And hopefully, by the time I’m done and back at school, I will be able to get things accomplished without wasting hours on the world’s best procrastination website.

Instead of completely deactivating my account (I don’t want to be that girl without a Facebook account), I let one of my friends change my password (one I trusted enough to not change my status to ridiculous things that I wouldn’t even know about). I didn’t want the temptation of opening up my Facebook app on my Blackberry or drunkenly logging in.

In preparation for my Facebook diet, I’ve reactivated my library card, found some websites that stream movies, and stocked up on good blogs to read and new websites to browse (DearBlankPleaseBlank, Catalog Living, and, of course, CollegeCandy). Unfortunately, I don’t think any of that is going to be enough to fill the gaping, Facebook-sized void in my heart. Seriously, I dare you to try and find a site that can entertain me for hours on end like FB. Not because I don’t think you can, but because I need it for my mental health. Please. I’m begging you, dear readers! Read More »

Facebook can turn even the most confident girl into a crazy stalker. Whether it’s clicking rapidly through photo albums and tagged pictures or checking out every. single. girl. who posts on your random hook-up’s wall, we’ve all been there. And that’s OK. It’s not like we’re sitting in a windowless van outside someone’s house for hours, watching their every move. No, we’re just reading what they wanted us to read. No privacy settings, no problem!

But while creepin’ on The Book is totes acceptable, there are some things that just aren’t. So if you’re so-bored-you-want-to-die at your summer job, or even if you’re just obsessed with finding out which of your long lost high school peers has gotten knocked up – if you want to keep your creeping under wraps, remember these few things when you go on a stalking expedition. Read More »

Ah, summer. The temperatures rise, the air thickens, our tans darken (unless you work in an office like me), and we go back to the old friends from home that we haven’t spent much time with in the past year. But among the mass of people you used to see all the time in high school, there are six different types of people that you will never see over your long summer vacation at home. Read More »

Oh Facebook, how did we get along before you?

You help us stalk our crushes in order to see their likes, and if there are any skanks in their photos they’re available.
You help us avoid people (you know, the ones who tell you where they are at all times in their statuses and you think to yourself, “damn, I really wanted to eat lunch there, too”).
You keep us sane while studying for exams (or at least, our attempting to study while browsing the news feed).

Facebook has become central to our lives and, much like Google, is not only a noun, but a verb as well.

But at times, like when we’re trying to maintain a relationship, Facebook isn’t that great. In fact, it’s yet another outlet for really awkward situations. Read More »