2008-10-18

Status Report: Facebook is a GO.

So, 24 hours into this Facebook thing.

It's not so bad.

I haven't been on long enough to say for certain, but it seems to suck considerably less than MySpace. The pros thus far:

1) The powers-that-be seem to keep a fairly tight rein on "customization." This means no horrible tiled images, glittery cursors, Photobucket slideshows, neon scrollbars and other such clutter that makes the hardiest browser crash. Likewise, it doesn't appear that you can add one of those trackers, if you're the kind of asshat who really cares who's looking at your page (ahem).

2) This is not to say that you can't add a bell or whistle here and there. Some of the apps look pretty cool, but I kind of like having that nice, clean template that can't really be messed with. I did add an "iLike" music component, but it's completely unintrusive, and nobody has to listen to something he or she doesn't want to listen to. You MySpace aficionados should take note.

3) Facebook will help you along with your collection of friends, and not by automatically adding the profile of its creator. Within an hour of my signing up, I was back in touch with about half-a-dozen chums from high school. Neat.

The cons? Well, there's that whole business of having to ask your friends if they'll be your friends. It doesn't have quite the "online middle school cafeteria" vibe of MySpace, but there's definitely still something quite puerile about it. I don't even want to know what a "superpoke" is, let alone be on the receiving end of one.

I'm sticking with it for the time being.

lisamcc at 8:08 p.m.

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