RE-jected

You know what is one of the worst things ever?  When I post something on facebook that I think is all clever and witty, and no ONE single person like or comments on it.  That is, quite frankly, one of the worst forms of rejection in the world.

I kid.  But in all seriousness.  They say getting rejected online (such as in online dating, or perhaps getting unfriended on facebook, etc.) is equally painful as face-to-face rejection.   And to think, people opt for online because it seems, well 'safer'.  Is that simply an illusion?  Do you all find your feelings equally hurt in online communication?  Your thoughts?

Refriended.

Editor's sidenote:  File this blog post under 'slow news day'.

So someone 'unfriended' me.  I know this for several reasons - two of them being a) this person updated ad nauseam, so the missing newsfeed fodder was noteworthy and 2)  this person just tried to 'refriend' me.

A little background - this is someone I didn't know very well in real life in the first place, so I wouldn't be offended to have been 'friendship cleaned'.  However, I did find it a little surprising because he did semi-regularly comment on my statuses, etc.

Well, apparently, somebody was going through withdrawals of his daily Jaime fix.  In the words of Kellie Pickler, I'm gonna show you just how missing me feels.  Is this that 'redemption' thing people talk about?

Now, I am not sure the protocol for 'refriending'.  I don't really have anything to hide, and despite the fact that I'm writing a blog post on this matter in the first place, I can't say I care all that much.  I'd be fine with letting him be my friend again, although, a small part of me feels like I should, for whatever unknown reason, hold out on him.  What if I take him back and he dumps me again?  Although there are really 0 consequences to said potential situation, the words 'screw me once, shame on you....' run through my head.

What are your thoughts?  Has anyone else out there been 'refriended'?  Should I let him out of the limbo of 'pending friend request' status?   Should I hold out on my friendship?  Do you feel you just lost two minutes of your life reading this blog post?

Please let me know.

Another Miami Souvenir

...besides my tan.

The Purpose of Facebook

So, recently, one of my good friends did a facebook 'clean-up', in which he deleted a large quantity of friends - basically everyone he hasn't spoken to recently/was never close friends with. So, right now, he's down to, let's say, under 200 friends.

I find this to be an interesting concept. I know some other people who've done the same. I also thought about doing a friend cleanup (mainly deleting some people from college or friends of friends, or friend's exes whom I've met very briefly and never spoke to again) - however, my fear is that I'll suddenly randomly run into one of these people again and there'll be some awkward moment of one of use realizing the other is no longer a facebook friend and wondering what happened (oh, uh, someone hacked my account? yeah...).

Anyhow.

However, this gets me to thinking - what IS the purpose of facebook? For me, it's getting in touch with/keeping in touch with those who would have otherwise fallen off the face of this earth. I don't need facebook for my close friends I speak to somewhat regularly; I know what they're up to, where they work, what they look like. It's the people that I knew at some point but would now be completely out of touch with if it weren't for facebook that really give facebook its value, in my opinion. It's kind of like we use a dictionary for the five syllable words, not 'home' or 'food'.

In fact, if I stop to think about it now - there's a good thirty or so people who are acquaintances from high school or college who I have not seen/spoke to in person in at least four years, however, we regularly comment on each other's statuses & write on each other's wall, so I pretty much feel like I could say I am in touch with these people who would have otherwise been long gone. I am grateful these seemingly random people have trickled back into my life (via a social networking site).

Anyhow. What are your thoughts? Is the point of facebook to keep in touch with the long-gone, long-lost friends, or are these people clutter? Is the purpose of facebook moreso to keep in touch with those who are close? What's your take? Should one 'clean out' those who seem to have drifted away?