"This recent bout of viral narcissism has sent roughly 800,000 hours of worktime productivity down the drain...But it's just so stupid...I can't believe I'm saying this, but I've finally found something more stupid than Twitter."<p>I think the only thing worse than sharing mundane details about yourself for the world to see is to be the TIME writer that has sunk so low as to whine about it in a front-page article (yes, it made it to the time.com home page). Really? This counts as journalism these days?
I took a bit of a more unorthodox approach when I got tagged. I figure it's better to make notes worth reading: <a href="http://unalone.tumblr.com/post/75897218/continuing-my-facebook-dickery" rel="nofollow">http://unalone.tumblr.com/post/75897218/continuing-my-facebo...</a><p><i>Most people aren't funny, they aren't insightful, and they share way too much. Facebook is a loose social network; a "friend" on Facebook might translate to someone you'd barely recognize in real life.</i><p>This is a problem inherent with <i>any</i> group. In real life if you paid this much attention to all of 600 people you'd have the exact same problem. It reminds me of the Internet stalker problems that people've started to be warned against. You need to treat the Internet like you would anything else - and offline, you'd never have a party with hundreds of people and pay attention to all of them. If you want Facebook to get better, limit yourself.<p>If your friends bore you, get better friends. I've only seen a few of these, but the ones I've read were actually really fascinating to read. Writer friends are the best.<p>When did magazines get this awful? I commented this on the Newsweek article yesterday, too. Weren't these both good magazines two years ago? Why've they turned so pulpy?
I can't believe how much I enjoyed reading the 25 things my friends posted. As time goes on, people lose track of friends, but my friends shared enough for me to remember why they were my friends. Their personalities came out in ways you never see with the boilerplate profiles and status updates.
I was hoping for a discussion of the security implications of sharing 25 bits of personal information online with hundreds of people, but there was nothing about that. It's basically a rant against the little things that she doesn't want to know about her friends.
Has every sentence on Time site have a suggested link????
Some arent even related to the article. What annoyance!.
The article??? oh, a rant as this comment. (at least this one is shorter)
Sadly, I gave in and did mine last night. Can somebody make a facebook app already that quizzes you about which random facts belong to which of your friends?
Strangely enough, I got tagged (thrice in the last two weeks). I was just making up the list, and realized, its actually a great exercise. I really enjoyed writing that list (still working on it though).<p>Though if this is mainstream journalism, and this is from Time.com, I am sufficiently confident that I am not the only one wasting my time (assuming I even agree with the author)
Give me a break. If you don't want to read 25 things about your friends, don't read them! I'll echo harpastum saying the most ridiculous thing about this is that it made it to the front page of TIME. What will the topic of the author's next article be: the viral narcissism of "about you" email chain letters? That's SO 1998.<p>As much as I used to hate those chain letters I mentioned above, I surprised myself and took part in the 25 things meme on Facebook. I actually found it pretty edifying. I wrote some things I didn't realize I was going through at the time and learned some things I didn't know about my friends.<p>Did I need Facebook to do this exercise? No. But the fact that Facebook facilitated it is far from "stupid," as the author suggests it is.
my favorite list i've seen so far:<p>1.) I don't usually fill out chain lists.
9.) I've made People Magazine's most beautiful people list 6 years running.
13.) I really like 30 Rock.
16.) I've never tasted my own urine.
17.) David Blaine is actually just a character in my imagination.
19.) I was half of the men at the million man march.
22.) Four of the things on this list are true.
23.) #22 isn't one of them.
25.) I really, really hope someone sends me $25.
Cussing about the internet: not only for blogs now... Also, I think he failed to see some humorous references in many of those posts.<p>Oh well, that's how people are I guess.
Oh no, people are having fun on the internet! Quick, somebody write an article on time.com and stop them! If people enjoy sharing random things about themselves, then let them be. I personally think the 25 Things fad, while maybe a bit 'lame', is interesting. It allows me to feed the narcissistic side of myself, while learning random things about my friends. The horror.
I tried to start a chain like this as a Facebook application called Four Things, One Lie. The idea was for people to post five things, one of which wasn't true, about themselves: <a href="http://www.jgc.org/blog/2007/07/stop-me-before-i-code-again-another.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.jgc.org/blog/2007/07/stop-me-before-i-code-again-...</a><p>I guess most people have <i>no</i> imagination.
I can't believe how much I enjoyed reading the 25 things my friends posted. As time goes on, people lose track of friends, but my friends shared enough for me to remember why they were my friends. Their personalities came out in ways you never see with the boilerplate profiles and status updates.
Hypothesis: Your opinion of friend based social networks is a direct reflection on the people you surround yourself with, and thus a reflection of your opinion of yourself. I rather like Twitter...
v funny that Time magazine is reporting on the latest buzz on fb. the viral nature of this "25 things" meme is pretty insane. maybe Time is hungry for a little of that pg view action so they thought they would jump in. trouble is, who reads Time anymore(?).
<i>22. I once ran into New Kids On the Block's Joey McIntyre in the lobby of an off-Broadway show. I told him he was the first boy I ever loved. He laughed and kind of smiled. This was the most gratifying moment of my life.</i><p>JOEY WAS MY FAVORITE, TOO!<p><a href="http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/2/6" rel="nofollow">http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/2/6</a>