Back in the day (when I still had a MySpace account) Facebook was a brand new platform for social opportunity and getting to know people in college.  I remember the days when my status was restricted by the word “is” and I only had 50 pictures tagged of myself at graduation parties and I thought I was super rad. Suddenly, My Space turned into the Britney Spears white trash of all social networks and I was spending the majority of my time on the blue and white pages of Facebook.

And like any social practice, social etiquette has hereby ensued.  There are things on Facebook you just can’t do, either because they are annoying as sh*t or they can put you in danger.

I’m serious. If you want to save your plasma TV and your online reputation, read on.

1. List Details of Where You’re Going  & When

Take this couple. The girl left a Facebook status saying was going out to a concert with her boyfriend, and her friend (since she was seven) busted into their house and stole their flat-screen TV right off their wall.  Nice guy. La Lohan and Paris Hilton (amongst other D-list celebs) had similar experiences when they compulsively updated their Twitter status letting the world (or that annoying girl from that stupid show on E!) know when their homes were free for thievery. It’s time to stop giving everyone an itinerary of your life and live a little more mysteriously. Read More »

“Heyyyyyy!!!! Ohmygosh we haven’t talked in ages!!!! How have you been? You look like you’re doing great. WE should totally get together sometime!”

We all have those friends on Facebook. People that we knew ten years ago and don’t talk to anymore. Except for on Facebook.

I have plenty of friends like that. And I even friend requested some of them.

Of course, those friend requests were mostly because they were the people that made my middle school years hell, and I like to stalk them and silently gloat over how much cooler my life is than theirs.

But some of them were sparked by a genuine desire to see how they were doing and what kind of people they had turned into.

So how does this whole reconnecting thing work, especially on the internet, and especially if one of the two parties may not be exactly thrilled at the idea of sitting across from their grade school buddy whom they haven’t seen since 1999? Something about the cyberdistance makes the idea of rekindling a friendship seem more approachable over Facebook (or Myspace, as the case may be). If your old classmate doesn’t feel like answering you, it’s a lot easier to not take it personally when all you’ve done is send a digital message instead of digging out an old phone number and calling out of the blue. Read More »