Since all we can see on Facebook is just profiles, I thought I’d share, in the form of a gallery, some of the “unusual” ones the [loveMachine] has brought me to interact with. This is a gallery of caricatures, of course. It doesn’t point to anyone in particular, although you might recognize a friend or maybe yourself.
The I-already-have-4000-friends profile and I want more. You puzzle me. You already have too much friends to take care of. And you still want more. You picked me because I liked your stuff. Maybe. Or was it a Facebook suggestion? I’ll never know. Then, after a couple of days, you realize that you maybe have added a “special” kind of friend. A friend that is liking all your posts, and all your comments. And I guess its more because of the liking on comments that I stick out. So you send me a private message. Trying to figure out who I am, what are my intentions, and what could this be all about. It’s rarely an interesting conversation. Usually, a few boring messages. Sometimes, it doesn’t even get to the point. In the end, you still keep me as a friend. And I still continue to like all you do.
The I-thank-personally-everyone-for-every-like type of person. I didn’t even know you existed a couple weeks ago. And at first, I thought I found the only person on Facebook who was doing it. I was wrong.
We all know the “I-thank-you-for-your-friendship” type of person. I call those “the Myspace friends”. This was very common when Myspace was THE social network. It helped to get noticed and supposedly, get more friends. On Facebook, sending this through private messages doesn’t make much sense. But that’s ok. It’s just one message. Back to my “thank-you-for-the-likes-friend”.
There is a type of users on Facebook who will tag you in a comment for every like you make on their post. This means that, unless they use a script (which I doubt), they write a personal comment for everyone. So, for example, I like their post. Under it, they write a “thank you ” comment with my name in it. I get a notification from facebook. I like that comment back. Etc.
Facebook algorithms must go crazy here, for sure. And I can’t imagine how much time is spent writing all those comments. Some people should really better learn to code.
The I-will-just-like-10-things-on-your-profile people. I don’t know if you do this to all your friends or if it is a way to protest, mock or cheer the [loveMachine]. It usually happens after a new friendship relation is created. Or at random times. I suddenly get 10 likes in about 30 seconds from one person. Are they using a script? Is it common behavior when making new friends? Is it a way to pay back for all the likes received? I actually have no idea. And I never met anyone like that prior to the running of the [loveMachine]. So I guess, it’s related.
The we-don’t-even-speak-the-same-language profiles. You post in arabic, lingala, hebrew, spanish,… And, yes, we’re are friends. This is a perfect place where all nations, languages and religions blend together (de Coubertin would be proud). But when you write me private messages or comments, I have no idea what you are talking about. Luckily there is a “See translation” button under every post. But I’m not sure Bing can be trusted. It’s although certain that it’s not because I liked what you posted that I understood what you wrote. Let’s keep each other as a friend though, Bing might get better someday.
And last but not least, the I-am-a-plastic-artist-and-facebook-is-my-medium type of profile. You’re a crowd. I knew Thomas Cheneseau and Systaime (aka. Michaël Borras) from a long time. They were, for me, the first ones who played with Facebook as a plastic medium. And they are still leading the pack. Were they really the first ones, I’m not sure. But there is a huge group of players now. And they all seem to want to friend me lately. To the point were I’m worrying my timeline will only be a constant streaming gallery of these kinds of work. I don’t mind though. If it has to go that way, it’s surely tells something about the medium. I just hope some of you would be more ‘thinking outside of the box’.
Anyway, the [loveMachine] will like everything your friends do on Facebook. And doing so, it seems the perfect tool to meet some of the weirdest players on the platform. I’m curious what the next 30.000 likes will come up with.
(Illustration borrowed from Facecrook)