Facebook Popularity! Really?!

Source: thenextweb.com

I don’t underestimate the power of social media platforms. Really. Being a content writer, I always say how crucial it’s for companies to leverage various social networking platforms to know and connect with their target audience. But hey, here I’m talking about our personal Facebook accounts. Normally, I wouldn’t blog about it but recently, my friend made me aware why I should take more care about my presence on Facebook.

I use only one social networking platform – Facebook. Yes, I understand Twitter and Pinterest, but I simply can’t make myself go there. Because all my friends are already there on Facebook. Why should I go to another platform to connect with the same set of people?

Never mind my stupid questions. Let’s not digress.

Just the other day, I wrote something painful and put that as my Facebook status. No, I wasn’t in pain. Neither I was depressed or suicidal. But being a writer, sometimes some thoughts take over my senses. I come up with lines that have nothing to do with my real life. Those are such small lines that I can neither make them into poem nor into fiction. So I post them as status on my account.

As soon as I posted that status, I started getting pings and messages from so-called friends to know if everything was alright with me. Even my brother asked me if I’m going through some kind of heartbreak. I got so fed up with the questions that I deleted that status to get peace of mind. But the story didn’t end there. The next day when I came to office, my office friend asked me why I’m so heartbroken. I was astounded by the question, to say the least. I really couldn’t get over the fact that my one status has such power to shake people in my friend list.

When I told him that it was just a random status and that he should know me better to ask such questions, he started explaining how important it is develop a right persona for Facebook. To make his point, he even asked me to Google topics like “how to become popular on Facebook.” I did it, and man, you should see the results. You will get tons of articles that emphasizes how you should strategize your personal Facebook account! Mind you, you aren’t a business and still you need to strategize your Facebook statuses and posts!!! 

This led me to another thought. Why do we have the need to be popular on Facebook? Does each one of us harbour Amitabh Bachchan within us and he's getting restless to come out? Or do we crave popularity to validate our thoughts and actions?

Another question, how far we are ready to go to get this elusive popularity on Facebook? I went through few articles such as Forbes, Wiki, and Cryptlife, and each of them talked about creating an interesting persona, and being fresh and unique. Really? I mean, what’s wrong with my existing persona? Why do I need to create another persona which apparently I’m not? And what do you mean by being fresh and unique? Of course I’m stale. Alas, I’ve been on this earth for more than 30 years. I’ve already lost my rose-tinted glasses more than a decade back (and I keep on becoming more and more cynic day by day). And unique! Am I not unique that I can ceaselessly find topics to rant about?

In short I suddenly realized speaking my mind on social networking platforms won’t do much for my peace of mind. It will rather start riots where there’s no need. So another resolution: write your thoughts in your personal journal wherein nobody can question you. Or create another Facebook profile under a pen name wherein you can speak my mind under the guise of anonymity.