Source : computerweekly.com
“BFT! Call ASAP” screamed the new message in my mobile inbox. I looked at the contents and sighed. It was going to be a long day.
“He has done it again” squealed the sender of the message (let’s call her X) in between big sobs.
“His OP says ‘committed’ and his FBP says ‘It’s complicated’. That sneaky snake! Just because he knows FB isn’t my strong point”.
I hmm’d sympathetically. This wasn’t my first BFT counseling after all.
For those who came late, BFT stands for Boyfriend Trouble. Let me explain the situation. The boyfriend’s relationship status said “committed” on OP (Orkut profile) while it said “It’s complicated” on FBP (Facebook Profile) which was the reason for X’s fury.
“I cannot understand why he would do this to me, especially when all of his friends are on Facebook” she said.
“Yeah” I nodded thoughtfully. “But didn’t he introduce you as “my good friend” to his colleagues?”
“Oh my God! You’re right!” she shrieked. “Now I get it! He purposely put his status as “It’s complicated” on Facebook because he doesn’t want to introduce me as his girlfriend to his friends. I’m such an idiot…” she wailed.
“Now come on..” I said, putting my arm over her shoulder.
“No…I’m a big idiot and you’re such a genius for figuring it out!” she cried. I proceeded to deny that then shrugged. Hey…now that I could believe! 
It may sound silly to those who aren’t on social networking sites but the pressure of maintaining your profile on a social networking site is immense. Think of the witty message you have to put up on your profile everyday and the ordeal of commenting on every silly snap or video your friends put up (which you have to, just so that it could be reciprocated). Not to mention the constant race to keep adding odd-sounding strangers just so that your friends list remains on the higher side!
Sigh! It’s not easy being young and tech-savvy!
To top it, a silly post could get you in big trouble! A friend once called in sick from office and took off with his pals to a resort near the city. While in the resort he sent in a SHweet (short form of Shashi Tharoor Tweet which stands for a tweet that invites trouble) saying that he was “chilling out in the resort’s pool”. In his gala mood he had missed a glaring point — that his boss kept a vigilant check on Facebook 24/7 just for this kind of behaviour.
Needless to add, in two hours, he was found in his cubicle, his tail tucked in between his legs and his desk overflowing with extra files.
Being in the media business, I have worked on more than my share of news stories that proclaim the ‘social media’ to be the next biggest thing in the world. The instant connection and addiction are all alright…but what is up with companies whose sole purpose of existence is to analyse all the Twitter feeds and Facebook posts being made every minute! And who are the poor desolate people who are assigned the dreadful job of sifting through the truckloads of rubbish posted by people in the name of ‘updates’?
Ah! I see it now. When John pokes Manish in Facebook and Priya announces that she has a bad cold in Orkut, the RAW can secretly add this data to each of their files. Next time they meet John and Priya they could just stroll up to them and say “John, we know you poked Manish. What do you have to say about it? And Priya, why didn’t you cover your mouth while sneezing?! Jail time for both of you! 24 months!”
In short I hate social networking.
I often think of joining the small but growing number of people who have decided to delete their social networking accounts and go back to good old real-life networking without worrying about other people’s pictures, updates and farms. But invariably when I’m about to press the delete profile button, a message pops in my inbox.
“Haiii Archana, you are tooooooooo goody I tell you. I friend of your friend. Do frandship with me?”
I see this message and change my mind. To hell with real-life networking. Where else but online can you tell pathetic creeps exactly what you think??!! Here I go.
“Go away creep. Im blocking you”. Ah! Sent. Now then, who wants me to water their crops?!!
I love social networking!
Source : layoutsparks.com
I enjoyed reading this! Its the story of almost every social networker, including moi
You have a witty way to put a thought across, Archana! Shall watch this space for more updates!
Really amazing
I love social networking too . 
I feel the same way. I love it because it keeps me connected to all of my friends who I don’t see all of the time; and it gives me something to sift through when I get bored. I hate it because it takes away the need to actually form in-person relationships, and it keeps people like me confused, always over-analyzing relationship statuses and random wallposts (on Facebook), And nowadays how everything is linked together, as you talked about, I feel as though I’m being stalked on more than one level! Haha. The way you said it was a lot more witty. I really liked this post.