I love you, Photo Tagger.

The writers over at The Ultimate Hatelist composed a list of the Top 10 Most Hated People on Facebook: The Constant Status Updater, Facebook Couples, People Who Post Little Pictures… Clearly, we agree with them. Those girls with the freakin’ peace-sign-and-pouty-lip pics (of course we never do that in pictures!) and the people who actually pay for Facebook gifts (you’re throwing away money on a birthday cupcake floating in cyberspace during economic times like this?!) should go back where they belong: MySpace.

But we got to thinking, and while there are those people who we want to punch right through the computer screen every time we load up our NewsFeed (read: every 4 minutes), there are also some that we truly love. Those who make our Facebook experience what it is. Those we can’t get enough of and know Facebook just wouldn’t be the same without.

The Comedian
I appreciate a witty saying every now and then, and when I sign on to Facebook to procrastinate I’d like to be greeted with a laugh, not some vague song lyric begging for attention/Facebook gifts. Which is why I love the comedian. He’s funny, he’s quick on his feet and he always has a funny status update or video posted for me to enjoy. This guy is a real pal, bringing a little happiness to hours of homework and studying.

The Girl Who Never Left Home
When you’re having one of those God awful weeks where you bombed a test, fought with your boyfriend and realized you have no idea what you want to do with your life, stalking this girl always makes you feel better. While everyone else left home only to return on holiday breaks, she’s still living in her parent’s basement, getting fat at the same deli you ate at for four years of off-campus lunch, and parties with the coolest of the cool…high school seniors. Seeing her life makes you feel a whole lot better about yours. It might be mean, but it’s true. Read More »

"I swear, I wasn't cheating on you."

Need some advice? Ask nicely and I’ll hook you up. Email me at tuffyluv@collegecandy.com and I’ll get back to you on the fly.

Dear Tuffy Luv,

Please respond! I’m in a rough spot.

Also, this is a very long story.

My boyfriend and I have been dating for 2 1/2 years. We love each other very much and he is my best friend, but we have had a lot of trust issues. It all started close to a year into our relationship. I went over to his apartment one evening to hang out and he was watching football so I sat down at his computer to entertain myself with the internet. I wasn’t snooping but something in an open AIM window caught my eye. The last line of the conversation read “Wait don’t you have a girlfriend?” So being curious I read the rest of the convo. To sum the whole thing up, this chick (who he had been trying to set his good friend up with) was flirting with him and he said ” If I were to go there, or you were to come here, we would hook up. Don’t pretend like it wouldn’t happen.” And she pretty much agreed.

So after reading this I confronted him. He said that in the process of trying to hook his friend up with her, the girl developed feelings for my boyfriend and he just didn’t want to hurt her feelings. I told him  that he needed to be honest with her and tell her that he has a girlfriend and nothing was going to happen between them. I made him show me the AIM conversation in which he said this to her.

Understandably, after this incident I became intensely paranoid. So, I stole his Myspace password. Not only his Myspace password but Facebook, Yahoo, and Gmail. I know that that’s really horrible but I didn’t know what else to do because I really didn’t want to break up with him but I didn’t feel I could trust him. Everything had been fine until twice in the past month or two the girl that originally set this whole thing into motion has sent naked pictures to his Gmail. Read More »

"Oh dear Lord have mercy. What is Melanie doing with that funnel??"

Check out this website. It’s hysterical and it’s the story. of. my. life. Every week, I write CollegeCandy’s Weekly 10 on the hard hitting issues of the moment. Issue of the week (Or maybe the issue of our generation as a whole)? Parentals on Facebook.

My mom is a very cool, tech savvy lady. She even had a Twitter before I did (and she loves to remind me of this) and is totally engrossed in Facebook. My dad also has a Facebook, but uses it much more sparingly. However, he has managed to comment on a picture of mine saying, “Look at my beautiful daughter! And smart too!” A good guy friend of mine observed that it seemed like he was trying to auction me off. Via Facebook. Let’s not even discuss the debacle when he scanned a baby picture of my sister and put it on her wall.

However, between my parents, my mom is hands-down the most Facebook happy person I know. Many of my friends add her, and she immediately accepts and writes on their wall to remind them to “eat their vegetables.” She also uses the “like” feature as if she needs it to continue breathing.

I’m sad to say that I occasionally delete what my mom says on my wall, you know, because I value my social life, but here are my 10 favorite gems thanks to good ol’ Mom. Read More »

In this digital age, we are never apart from the ones we love, at least not for too long.  With smart phones, texting, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Skype, and SMS updates, we are just a press of a button away.  We are closer to other people than we have ever been before.  Even long distance relationships don’t seem that long-distance anymore.

But between new couples and old, is all this technology really bringing people together, or is it driving us apart?

While new technology is an awesome time-waster (among all the other fabulous things it does), the fact that it makes everyone so accessible is a little scary, not to mention the lack of mystery, chase, and boundaries between us all. We’re texting/IMing/Gchatting guys before we go out with them. And before that, we already know their favorite books, movies, quotes, hometown and birthday. We know what they’re doing, when they’re doing it… without ever asking them. Read More »

The summer after I graduated from high school I was excited to finally be free from compulsory family vacays to celebrate the 4^th of July. So to celebrate both America’s and my own newfound independence, I went big, I went all out – I went to a house party.

It was the kind of party I look back fondly on in remembrance of high school days. There was cheap vodka, a backup keg, and plenty of top shelf liquor plucked from the generous hostesses’ parents liquor cabinet. The night started out innocently enough, with keg stands, red and blue shots (white didn’t work out the way we’d planned), and plenty of high schoolers bragging about just how wasted they were.

As a mature, soon-to-be-freshman, I was so over the same un-graduated attendees that had been plaguing house parties for the last 4 years of my life. As I lamented the lack of “real men” with my equally sophisticated best friends, the college guys showed up. Read More »

For those of us who log into Facebook every five minutes or so because of boredom (hey, it’s better than snacking) or a strange addiction to bumper stickers and flair, the news that all Facebook accounts will be getting vanity URLs is so yesterday.  Mostly I ignore those little gray-paneled announcements at the top of my newsfeed, so during my first 20 logins of the day, my outrage had not registered.

Now?  Outrage has registered.

I know, I know, every time Facebook makes a change, all of us whine like three-year-olds who don’t get dessert (or 22-year-olds…) and then we end up accepting it and even loving it (I. Love. Newsfeed.).  And this change doesn’t even seem like that big a deal. Honestly, how many of us really noticed that our Facebook URL is just a bunch of numbers?  And who really cares? If people want to find me, they can use the handy-dandy search box.

But I guess some people do, because this new change will make it a lot easier to stalk search for people. Only there are two small problems:

1. Names come on a first come, first served basis. That means that once your name of choice is taken, you’re screwed. Do you know how common my name is?? I’m going to have to be one of those geeks who wait around for 12:01 am late Friday night if I want to get a URL anywhere close to my own name instead of a random selection of letters and numbers (much like what I have now…).

2. Names cannot be changed. So, unlike my AOL screen name that changed with me as I grew up, this one is more permanent than that tramp stamp my friends have on their backs.

Ah, changes like these make me think about the good old days when Facebook was only for college students and the world wasn’t alerted when I went through a painful breakup.  Now it’s pretty much the bastard love child of MySpace and Twitter. Like a cheerleader, it’s popular and pretty, but it can be such a bitch sometimes (I can say this because I was a cheerleader, so nyah).

It’s a fact of life: unless you marry your high school sweetheart, the older you get, the more relationships you’ve had. And so has your significant other. Not only are there more relationships, but they are more meaningful. There are shared pets, friends that knew ‘them’, ex-apartments, ex-fiances, ex-spouses, even children.

Before I entered the world of adult dating, I didn’t really understand the importance of these factors in forming a new relationship. My lovely older sister used to lose her mind when her boyfriend (now husband)’s ex was mentioned, and I couldn’t understand why. She was history, why was the mention of her name so upsetting? I didn’t care about any of MY boyfriend’s ex-girlfriends. Of course not, they’d dated as teenagers or college students (when they were drunk most of the time, I’m sure), and topped out at a year, two at the most.

Once I joined the grown-ups, I had a new appreciation for ‘the ex’, as she became a more significant being. My boyfriend was with his ex for 8 years, and when I first found that out, the thought of her made me INSANE. Totally irrational, I know, but I’m working through it. It’s far from complete, and I’m sure it will evolve, as all things do, as I age. But for the time being, here are a few things I’ve found that help deal with this relationship reality in a healthy way. Read More »

As the semester comes to a close, one thing that’s on my mind (and the minds of most everyone I know) besides finals and start-of-summer parties is getting a job.

Whether it’s a summer job, internship, or, if you’re graduating like I am, an entry-level position into a career, finding a job is a top priority.  However, we all know that isn’t as easy as we’d like it to be.  Competition for jobs is higher than ever with the tough job market we’re in, which is why you have to stand out in the sea off all the other job/internship applicants out there.

But before you purchase some sort of ridiculous costume or do the dirty with your interviewer in attempts to stick out in his or her mind, try a few of these more professional ideas:

1.  Network, network, network – You’ve heard it before, and I’m telling you again: networking is one of the most important things you can do when it comes to helping you get a job.  Think you don’t have connections?  Think again.  Reach out to everyone you know–professors, friends, coworkers, your parents–you never know who has info on great job openings. There are also tons of online groups catered to all sorts of fields that set up networking events in cities across the country. Sign up and go to these; you will meet tons of people in your field that can help you out down the road.

2. Utilize your school’s career center – Sometimes universities get job listings that don’t go into public listings.  You may not find anything the first time, but keep checking, because new jobs open up all the time.  Plus, your career center can offer more than just job listings.  Depending on your university, you can get career counseling, have your resume checked, and even do mock interviews. Read More »

A 14-year-old New Jersey girl was arrested after posting nude pictures of herself on her Myspace profile in an attempt to tease her boyfriend. The charge? Distributing child pornography.

Three Pennsylvania teens face similar charges after sending some seriously dirty texts.

Yikes! I’ve been known to send what I suppose some could classify as a dirty text every now and then, and while it’s not illegal being I am an adult who can do whatever she pleases with her unlimited text plan, I can’t help but sympathize with these girls.

We all make stupid decisions when we’re in love…or lust. Read More »

As we’ve all heard by now, John Mayer and Jen Aniston have (again) called it quits.  The major gossip magazines originally cited disagreements and busy work schedules as the reasons behind the split, but more recent reports have explained what the REAL reason behind the breakup might be: John’s obsessive Twittering.

Now, as anyone who follows him on Twitter knows, John Mayer is a bit of a Twitter addict—he updates his page almost hourly, sometimes even multiple times an hour.  But is that any reason to dump someone?  Apparently, according to Aniston, it is.  He claimed that he didn’t have any time for her, yet somehow still had time to update Twitter.  Ok, so that’s not cool: if a guy is putting more effort into an internet addiction than into your relationship, there’s definitely a problem there.

And the more I think about it, there’s definitely a lot of other annoying internet habits that could be relationship red flags. Read More »