With so many social networking sites out there, it is quite easy to get sucked in. From Facebook to Twitter, Bebo to MySpace, LinkedIn to Ning and these are the most popular. You have all these different accounts and dozens and dozens of friends. Some of them you know and some you will never ever get to meet. These are the virtual friends.

Since the world is now a global village, the guy in Thailand is not so far. You keep in touch with Skype, MSN, Yahoo Messenger, BBM and the other various ways of chatting. Social networking has made meeting people so much easier.  So much easier, it has made some people become extremely bolder in areas there would never have been. I have found that it is not always easy walking up to someone and chatting them up. It takes guts and lots of courage especially if the girl is way out of your league or the guy is so fine. So chatting to him or her via your screen is sometimes easier but what then happens when we blow this privilege? I’ll let your imagination work that out.

I have chosen to stay offline on Facebook and some of my other networks for certain reasons. One of them is people who constantly try and chat with you even though you have politely said you are busy; and another reason is these people who constantly want to befriend you at all cost. They constantly hound your status, tweets or updates. They have a comment for every single thing you put out there. Oh, and there are the ones are constantly trying to sell you something. Your wall is their market place.

Now I am very protective of my email address. I have about 3personal ones and 2company emails. I hate opening my emails and seeing junk from somebody who is trying to be my friend and has typed my name in randomly or looked through a mutual friend’s list.  Or looking at an email that may seem important only to be confronted with some crap telling me about their scheme of how ‘we’ can make money together. These ones tell you of how their Uncle’s brother’s first Cousin’s Sister who married the nephew of the Aunty of the Senator who just passed away and has left some $500’000 in an off-shore account. Confused? Same here!! I usually am by the time I get halfway through the mail. They are never creative, so it’s usually the same old story.

I ask where the Romance is, where has it gone? Gone are the days when a guy would buy you flowers, now he sends e-flowers. It’s your birthday and he sends an e-gift. C’mon we haven’t gotten that futuristic have we? They have stopped asking how you are and just go straight to the jugular. Either to sell something to you or just to tell you there are here for virtual sex, are you up for it? Eh!! Hello? Try and wine and dine me first now? People like this I tend to un-friend them on Facebook, un-follow on twitter and disconnect on LinkedIn. Ahaha..ki lo de o..

When joining a social networking site, many join for many reasons. Some join because they want to meet new people from all over the world. Some join because they can’t get a date so why not join an online network. Some of us simply join because we really want to network about work or further our careers but the bottom line here is, we are there to meet people.

I have met friends online that I will continue to cherish and love because they have influenced my life in many brilliant ways, mostly positive anyway. I don’t believe it’s everybody I meet that I have to be BFF’s with. People want to force a friendship on you. Not every guy that compliments my pictures on Facebook do I want to date. Not every girl who says we went to the same secondary school is who I’d like to play catch up with. Not everybody I’ve worked with should be my drinking partner. Why?? Na by force to friend you? So allow me to have my online friends and have my real friends. Some of us are just meant to be virtual friends, let’s keep it that way.

Oluwapelumi