What Facebook Can Teach Us About Our Friends

Remember the people who you grew up with or went to school with? The ones who you consider to be your close friends, your regular friends, or even your distant friends.

Whatever the case, you probably think you know them pretty well, otherwise you wouldn't be friends with them, would you?

At least, you thought you knew them well.

• Until you came across their explicit, below-the-belt, annoying, or TMI status updates all over Facebook.

You cover your mouth with your hand, your eyes widen and you think to yourself, Did "so and so" really just say that?!

Has this ever happened to you?

We think we know our friends until that moment when their update pops onto our Facebook wall.

Refreshing the page doesn't help. Neither does scrolling up and down to check if you made a mistake.

They really did just say that.

It's right there in black and white; there's no way to deny it.

What am I talking about?

I'm talking about those updates which make you think twice about being friends with this person.

Something along the lines of:

• A racist joke
• A sexist remark
• An attacking phrase on someone specific who you may or may not know
• A religious rant
• A highly controversial political opinion

If Facebook has taught me anything, it's that you don't air your opinions on religion and politics.

People have a way of blowing these types of topics out of proportion and attacking others for their viewpoints.

Facebook has added a new feature which lets you see posts that your friends or family have "liked". It's displayed on your wall the same way that a status update is.

I've been horrified to find things on there that people I know have "liked".

This includes "liking":

• Animal abuse pictures
• Human torture pictures
• A politically incorrect quote

I have a huge problem with this because I don't see the point.

We're bombarded with feed on our Facebook wall everyday. People asking us to "like" this post or status, and if we ignore it then we're considered evil or bad, that we have no heart and don't care.

Tell me, what good is "liking" a post of an injured or dead human being or animal going to do? Will it bring them back to life or making things better?

No it won't.

There are more important things to do in life than waste time being sucked into someone else's nonsense. I've actually taken people off my friends list for doing this on a regular basis.

When these friends "like" a disturbing image or update, you see it on your feed.

Yup. You see that image and it stays with you for the day, the week, forever. You didn't choose to see that seal being butchered or that human being tortured. Your friend did.

When they "liked" that picture.

It's possible they didn't know about it before, which is why I like to point it out to people the first time I see them doing this. If they do it again and again, then I take them off my friends list or hide their posts. Simple as that.

Do you ever log onto Facebook only to find one of your friends most recent updates that leave you shaking your head in disbelief?

You know, the ones that contain a little TMI.

They got so drunk last night and peed all over their pants, before getting it on with the hot girl/guy three times in a row who they met at the bar, and then later they proceeded to throw up all over the bathroom rug when they got home.

Really? I think I could have lived my life without knowing that little bit of information.

TMI. TOO MUCH INFORMATION.

I have a few friends who post updates like this and they annoy the crap out of me. The only reason I don't block them off is because they post regular updates as well and I do actually want to read those.

By attention seeking, I'm talking about those friends and family who like to be in the spotlight. They post status updates on whatever comes into their head without thinking it through.

Updates like this:

• "Yawn. I'm SO bored."
• "I'm so sick of everyone treating me like crap! I hate my life! :( "
• "Whatever, speak to the hand BABY!"
• "What to do today....hmmmm...decisions, decisions...."

You'll find this a lot on Twitter as well, but I find it worse when I open up Facebook and find silly updates like this.

We may think we know our friends until we take a peek at some of their status updates on Facebook.

It's amazing what we can learn from those few little words or actions on something as simple as social media.

Do you have friends like this?