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A WORLD IN ITSELF Facebook is a social networking website that’s gained cult status

Thanks to this larger than life social networking website that’s gained cult status in recent years, the lines between real and make-believe have blurred and, in some cases, vanished altogether. At first sight, Facebook is a world in itself, intimidating first-time users into logging out in a hurry, overwhelmed by the possibilities it offers. The second session isn’t much easier, for that’s when you realise that it’s all you can do in real life plus a few extras.

Gleeful adults spend guilt-free hours indulging in juvenile preoccupations such as throwing a snowball at someone (never mind that it’s April), shaking magic eight balls, squirting glitter, instigating food fights, answering multiple choice questions to find out which “Seinfeld” character they are most like or adding aliens to friends’ solar systems.

It’s a place where irreverence is a given. Users proudly display their membership in communities with titles such as “I’ve been mistaken for a drunken person when I was completely sober” or “Whatever your PC can do, my MAC can do better”.

A haven for the socially awkward, Facebook lets users hit on, serenade, dance with or propose to people without the complications of face-to-face interaction (although you must already be a friend of this person to have access to these ‘actions’).

Much like a perpetual conveyor belt, the site makes it redundant for people to be online at the same time to play a game or have a conversation. You simply ‘send’ a hug, play your turn, leave sticky notes on their walls and get on with life.

Time and distance be damned, you always know what everyone else is doing. Users meticulously provide status updates on their lives – working out, partying, recovering from Christmas cake disaster, sleep deprived. By clicking on the wall-to-wall link, users can read entire conversations between friends, privacy being irrelevant for it’s mostly small talk. It’s always the season for gifting at Facebook. And here, it’s (literally) the thought that counts. Free Gift applications allow you to give friends virtual champagne flutes, mittens, bouquets and lava lamps. Applications like ‘Growing Gifts’ encourage users to gift more by ‘unlocking’ fresh gifts as a reward every time a new gifting milestone is reached.

For all its wonderful qualities, Facebook has an unmistakable ‘Hotel California’ vibe to it. It’s highly unlikely that you log in to ‘poke’ someone and log out immediately. A list of requests on the right side of your screen will draw you in. You’ll find that your college roommate is desperate to know whether you can beat her score in the ‘Celebrities without Make-Up’ quiz, your cousin is asking you which dessert you are (he’s a lemon meringue pie: rich, sharp with an incisive edge), your boss has described you in five words (it’s only fair to return the favour) and you’re covered in French fries, tomato sauce and vinegar (no, your best friend isn’t getting away with that).

If you find your fingers glued to the mouse, your eyes red from exhaustion and that deadlines have come and gone, welcome to the club. Reality just got less interesting.

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