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Monday, August 8, 2011

Please excuse me while I rant like a crazy woman.

I have a complaint. It's not that I don't like facebook. I do. I sometimes feel like it's my link to the outside world when I'm stuck at home with a huge belly and a crazy toddler. But I think that people abuse it.

Some people choose to post every detail of their lives on facebook. Others choose not to. Either is fine and it's obviously a personal preference. However the lines blur when those who post everything on fb decide to post details about other people's lives on either their own fb wall or the other person's wall. Quite frankly, this drives me bat.shit.crazy.

Now, I realize that it may come off as bitchy and that people generally have very good intentions and are just excited about good news. But I can't help but wonder if these people can't stop themselves for a split second, get a hold of their excitement, and think about the people they are posting about. Maybe they don't want this news on fb yet because they'd like to make the announcement themselves. Just because you heard it through the grapevine, doesn't mean it's necessarily "facebook public" yet. Or maybe these people don't want it on facebook at all. Ever think of that?!

I say this because a very close friend just had a her first little bundle of joy. She didn't want people to know she was going in to be induced and told a VERY select few of us, who she knew could keep our mouths shut. So today she had the baby and one of her relatives posted it on fb. Now, this relative is SUPER sweet and I'm sure was just excited. But I felt the need to say (first, congrats!) "are you sure they're ok with you posting this on fb? don't want you getting in trouble!". Apparently they were either not OK with it yet or she thought twice about it because the post was removed within 10 mins of making it. This however did not stop the other person who commented on the post from going straight to the new mommy's wall (where NOTHING had been posted yet) and writing a gushing congratulatory post. And 20 mins later, another relative posted the news on her own wall. Ugh. I gave up at this point.

Again, I'm probably coming off as bitchy. But think about how this new mommy probably felt. She went to great lengths to keep things a secret so that she could maintain some privacy and ultimately spread the news herself. Instead, some well-meaning folks stole all of that from her in a few sentences. How unfair is that? Not to mention the fact that she and her hubby come from very large families and how pissed would YOUR grandma be if she found out from someone on fb that you had a baby before you (or your parents) had a chance to call her? Yikes.

So the take-home message for today is: if you hear good news about someone else, stop and think before spreading it all over the world wide web. You could put a damper on a very special day in someone's life by not controlling your excitement. My rule of thumb? If someone hasn't mentioned it on their own fb wall, then it's not yet "facebook public" and I'm keeping my cyber-voice shut.

That's all for today. Thanks for listening :D

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