CREDIT: COFFEEANDCRAZY.BLOGSPOT.CA
If you put it on Facebook, no matter how private you may think it is, those images of you doing something you probably regret have a way of finding their way out for everyone to see.

Social networking is a funny thing. Put it this way: imagine being in a room with 499 friends, acquaintances, old boy/girlfriends, family and complete strangers who crashed the party because they knew someone that you used to dislike in high school. Now imagine going around showing them your cleavage, puckered-lip-super-model-poseat- a-bar-with-a-bunch-of-drunk-friends pictures, a dozen photos of your cat and several tropical vacation shots of you on the beach with a six-pack from five years ago. Then you whip out a stack of linear drawing placards with lines of philosophy, anecdotes and ancient wisdoms written on them, and stare until they reply, "I like that."

"Great," you reply. "Can I request that you become my friend? I only need one more to make 500."

We all seem quite willing to share with the growing cyber-verse: we post, pout, bitch, laugh, creep, promote, bore, troll, investigate, bully, inspire, contemplate and reveal. We hold onto names long enough to create a profile that allows us to pre-know, predetermine and prepare for someone that we may want to actually know. Somehow online networking has become the avenue to measure the possibility of a relationship. We all want to make sure our new employee, boss, colleague, friend or date has the right inspirational quotes posted on their wall.

And speaking of relationships, we are all so happy that you are now in one. Are you saying that you're taken, so 'stop trying'? That's rather conceited, isn't it? Or is it that you can't believe you're in a relationship and you wanted all of us to know that you're finally one of the crowd? Perhaps you're just saying that you're finally getting laid and you want everyone to know about it? It's the newly out-of-a-relationship status that really makes sense. You are saying that you are now back on the market and it's time to unfriend your ex, but make sure that you post lots of photos of you having a great time at a bar surrounded by party guys.

Do we post so that others will respond to us? Social networks inherently produce competition. We need to get the most Likes, the most friends, the most followers, the most comments, and the most retweets. Is this how we satisfy our ego? Is our sense of worth measured in replies, Likes and retweets? Would you ever stand up in front of a crowd and ask everyone how you look today? Why do we put ourselves out there online? Do we have less value if nobody likes our new profile picture?

How many friends do you have now on Facebook? Imagine your friends' lists in 10 years, when every comment that we post reaches 10,000 people. That is a daunting (if not frightening) thought: people around the world discovering our daily struggle with constipation, our albums of blurry, late-night photos showing a bunch of dudes falling over each other while flashing devil-horn hand gestures, and a professed love of Jägermeister and weed.

Then there is the constant bitching about Facebook's privacy settings and carrying on as though they're the secret eye of the North Korean Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army with Mark Zuckerberg as a master spy under Kim Jong-un.

I know I'm biased (and a bit of a douchebag), but it seems odd to me that people who have no qualms about posting updates about their love of playing Farmville, pictures of what they are eating for dinner, books that they like (but never read), and an enormous list of bands that 'define who they are' are somehow worried about the potential widespread distribution of their cat's picture and information about their love of cupcakes. Frankly, you'd think they'd like the additional attention.

Trust me, most people know way too much about you already. If you really want privacy, go home, shut off the lights, draw the curtains and turn off your damned computer.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.