I love that my social life and my social media life are becoming very intertwined. Slowly but surely, Facebook is sort of defining relationships in a way that was never possible before, and has only become a recent occurrence.
When I first started using Facebook, I was in college. The university I went to was one of the first to get Facebook after it started at Harvard. I had to use my university email in order to be able to get access and create a profile. At that time, it was all about “finding” your friends on Facebook. It was a topic of conversation and it was the new thing to do.
Well, in the years since, it is no longer about whether your friends are on Facebook or not. Everyone is on Facebook! Now, it’s about connecting with new people that you meet in your daily life.
It’s sort of funny to me that now, when I meet someone I really like, I will ask them if they are on Facebook (which I already know they are). The point of it is not to figure out whether I want to share with them my witty updates or glamorous photos, but to “confirm” them as a friend. Somehow, over the last few years, Facebook is no longer about the ridiculous action of confirming a friend (because of course they are my friend, why else would we be connecting on FB), but is now ACTUALLY a tool to “confirm” a new real life friend.
It’s possible that I am over thinking this (I often do), but somehow it all makes perfect sense in my head. When I meet someone I like, I will friend request them on Facebook. Once they confirm, there is no question in my mind as to where we stand. We are friends, and no one can say otherwise. The lines are becoming fuzzy, and that’s the way I like it.