All faces booked!

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Every time I walked by someone's desk my eyes would invariably be drawn to the detailed scanning of pictures, a sincere absorption in status-writing or a true involvement in Facebook (FB for the uninitiated) chatting. Seeing that every single soul around me was either an ardent FB user or a sure Internet retard - a general curiosity and of course, not wanting to be labelled with the latter tag, I started my Facebooking cruise with a zing exactly a year-and-a-half back. This was also the time when I entered the world of media and FB was introduced to me more as a professional tool than just a merger of friends.

Initially, I found myself too over-loaded with baseless info. Do I really care if Mr. X has had a lovely breakfast/lunch/dinner? Or is no more in relationship with his girlfriend? Tons of such updates every hour of the day irritated me. But in no time I started taking interest in a huge array of activities that FB has to offer - quizzes topping the list. Second to it is to keep a tab on my opponent-friend's private life which is purposely put on public view. Please! This can't be called spying.

One application that has gained unwarranted popularity in recent times is its 'Farmville' - something that hasn't fascinated me as yet. Though, it has its share of dutiful farmers. Some of my colleagues are so gripped to virtual-farming that for them a break or even Facebooking is synonymous to farming. Sometimes, the usual dialogues over lunch/dinner at the office canteen are- 'Please gift me some cows/ducks/goats/sheep etc etc... ' 'Net was horribly slow yesterday, couldn't farm...Damn! All my cropped farms have destroyed' 'Have you visited my farm lately? Exhaustively decorated'. No wonder co-farmers have a thing or two to chat about and their abhorrence towards non-farmers is fairly noticeable.

Once a close friend gave me a few classes on economics of farming and what crops should one consider sowing, growing and selling. I only doubted would that help in pushing down the ever increasing price-rise of vegetables.

A game that it evidently is, preserves the intrinsic nature of our early times - 'agriculture' and the bliss a plough-person gets on harvesting and selling is perhaps unmatched.

At times, I envision a cricket game on FB, it would be so much fun playing it. Guess, shuttling between farming and cricketing would be even more enjoyable.

In comparison to other social-networking sites, I find FB to be much more private, interactive and interesting. The only rival that it has at present is Twitter - the microblogging site... (Allowing only 140 characters) This celebrity-bound site has its own online population. For me, it has been a humdrum experience on it. Sadly, none of my tweets have ever gotten its due respect of response, even though the same statement would attract many a reactions on my FB account. 'Following' our favorite icons is one exciting thing to do on Twitter but probably also the only thing for me. Twitter assists in promoting icons from various fields - also helping is their unrestricted profiles letting the followers literally trail them along. Its recent addition of 'List' has made it all more popular and professional.

The most impressive facet of Facebook is to harness projects and causes of diverse kinds. So with just a click you can support causes like - save the girl child, stop child abuse, breast cancer awareness, PETA campaign, Peace Dot project and the like... On occasions when you can't reach out and do the needful, a click might just initiate the inventiveness.

Today with 125-plus friends, I realize that I'm as much fixated to the site as I am to doing the varied chores of my life. Understandably, it's not always feasible to exchange phone numbers with each other, though adding acquaintances on FB, establishes a better friendship and a professional familiarity. Having mentioned that I also believe that such networking sites shouldn't be used for real-life events - imagine you are being treated to a virtual gift and a 'happy birthday' wish from your friends (of course, not your best pals) who have your phone number or being invited to a get-together which could easily be fixed on the phone. Such occurrences only make the whole conveniently designed virtual-experience even more impersonal.

Anyway, the truth is that it's an incredible site to stay connected with people and that I am one of its lovers!

The truest thing however is different - Never to cease our hunt for real friends and real associations.