Of Facebook Posts and Social Media

Is it considered a selfie if someone took a close-up shot of you? I read somewhere that a smile is the best makeup that a girl can wear. Yes, I think it is, but it’s better to put on lipstick, too. :)

I once saw a post on Facebook that’s criticizing someone’s post. I know it was his right to rant but the funny thing was, he was also doing what he was criticizing about. He’s one of those people who talk the talk but don’t walk the walk.

I am guilty. I’ve always been guilty of spending too much time on Facebook. But the only reason I joined when it started was because a friend asked me to sign up so that she could have a neighbor in FarmTown. :) Then I became hooked on it. I spend most of my time on Facebook. Call me shallow but it has become a part of my routine. It has become a part of my life. I do envy a few of my friends though who already veered away from Facebook. I wish I can already do that.

I love reading posts and knowing how my friends have been. It has been so nice to reconnect with friends, classmates, former colleagues and people you know whom you haven’t seen for quite some time. Though some of them are just acquaintances, I enjoy seeing their updates and their happy thoughts or just their silly or insignificant posts.

To date, I have 1,660 friends on Facebook and to be honest, I don’t really know most of them. I used to accept any friend request before as long as we had common friends. I remember I sent a friend request to a college classmate whom I thought also considered me as his friend. But all I got was a lot of questions asking me who I was before he accepted my request. He really didn’t remember me. I was a bit disheartened because I realized I assumed too much that we were friends all along. And just as I put that incident behind me, I sent a friend request to another college classmate and the same thing happened, she asked me a lot of questions of who I was and the worst part was, she didn’t accept my request. So, I stopped sending friend requests from then on.

I have realized that strangers support and react to my posts more than my friends, former classmates or former colleagues do. Even some of my relatives don’t bother, too. Sometimes, I ask myself if I’ve done them wrong since they don’t really react to my posts but they are quick to message me when they ask me something. Well, okay then. They really don’t like me, I guess. Move on. Next chapter, please.

There will be times that we won’t like a post. But personally, I don’t rant about it on Facebook because I know there are people who don’t like my posts, too, even though how well written they are or how beautifully captured the picture is. There are just people who feel privileged that their posts are the only ones likeable and the others are not.

Because in social media, anybody can post anything but anybody won’t bother reacting to it. It is how it is. If you don’t like that kind of setup, then I think social media is not for you. Anybody can even post fake news, too.

Most of the time, some posts are just too much to handle but it’s their post and if it makes them happy, they have the right to post like everyone else. With all that has been happening in our world right now, life has to go on. We don’t want to see miserable posts. We want to see more happy thoughts and good vibes even if some people think they are just boasting about something.

A friend once said that her husband will screen her posts because according to him, not all her friends in social media are happy about her posts. And it’s quite sad that you think they’re your friends all along but they’re not.

But as what she said, we don’t post to brag. We post to inspire or motivate. It makes us proud of what we’ve done, what we’ve achieved so we can inspire people and make them happy. If they’re not happy for us, it’s not our problem anymore. There’s always the unfriend or block button and they can also unfollow or hide us from their timeline.

Social media will always be that platform where someone can express his thoughts and feelings. It will always be filled not only with positivity and encouragement, but also with negativity and outbursts. And oh, not to mention selfies that fill our newsfeed every second, too.