Um...do you know me?

There's been a lot of talk at our house lately about the changes in Facebook. When the new features were first presented at the f8 convention, they were announced as a way to "know your friends like you've never known them before."

Interesting.

As the changes take place, you'll continue to be able to see what things your friends "like" and comment on in REAL TIME! You'll be able to see what your friends are listening to in REAL TIME! You'll know what your friends are watching in REAL TIME! Is this sounding a little big brother-ish to you? It is to me. Not like the-government-is-watching-my-every-move Big Brother, more like there's-a-camera-in-every-room-of-my-house-and-everyone-is-watching Big Brother. It's okay, I guess...if you're into that sort of thing.

I mostly am not.

But the whole point I'm trying to make is...does this make it so you know your friends like you've never known them before? Or does it take us all to a new level of stalking, yet never really knowing anyone? According to Mark Zuckerberg, when Facebook first came out, people would spend 5 minutes perusing someone's profile. Now the number is 20. 20 minutes. No wonder it's so easy to waste your life away on Facebook! You can click through everything someone's doing! You can learn things about them you never knew before! And with the advent of Timeline, you can click through someone's WHOLE LIFE!!!!

uhm...hey, Creeper. Wouldn't it be a lot cooler if you talked to someone for 20 minutes and learned all about them?

I was at a gathering once and heard someone say, "My friend was saying the other day_______" making it sound as if these two people had a meaningful conversation. They never did. I saw it on Facebook too. According to my 17 year old brother, Facebook is automatically uncool as soon as you talk about Facebook outside of Facebook. But...what happens when there's so little interaction in real life that Facebook is all that's left? I mean-sure-I'm not going to call everyone I know to tell them about the funny little thing James just did, but I post it on Facebook so I can feel validated in thinking it was awesome.

Facebook and Spotify will link together and tell you that I spent an hour listening to Josh Groban yesterday. If you knew that, would you feel like you knew me better? Maybe. But I can guarantee that you wouldn't know that I'm not a huge Grobanite. I desperately needed to relax, I was soaking in the tub, and I was interested in listening to something different than my typical instrumental music. You'll never know why I needed to relax. You'll never know what was going on with me yesterday.

What about when it tells you I'm listening to

Breaking Benjamin?

Dave Matthews Band?

Mika?

There's always a reason. You may discover that I spent an entire week listening to the exact same music. So what if it was Michael Jackson. It doesn't mean you know me. (Okay, shut up! It's something that is just REALLY catchy about the song "Earth Song." I can't stop listening to it. And if I don't play "This is it," "Blame it on the Boogie," and some other selected MJ songs once a week, I feel like I'm not truly living.)

So all this to say, with the advent of the new and improved Facebook...do we really know each other at all anymore? Or do we just think we do?