The New York Times, on Scrabulous, the addictive Facebook game. I hate how it takes people with jobs so long to take their turns sometimes. :)
I feel like Scrabulous, in a small way, makes slightly more interesting that fuzzy ground on Facebook between friend and professional acquaintance. Not because it would be weird to play online Scrabble with, say, your boss, because maybe it wouldn't be. But because your Scrabulous statistics show up on your profile, if you're Facebook friends with your boss, and you're also terrible at Scrabulous, do you really want your boss to know that? Because even though it might be unfair for them to judge you for it -- what is it really a good measure of anyway -- wouldn't it be upsetting to find out that your boss is telling her boss friends about her employee who can't possibly be management material because she can't even win a game of Scrabble on the computer. I offer this thought as a public service. This problem is highlighted even further by the Facebook application "IQ Test," which really exists, and the potential Facebook applications, "Things I Hate About My Boss," "Diseases I Have That Can Be Transmitted Through Casual Contact in the Workplace," and "Countdown Clock Until I Tell My Unsuspecting Colleagues That I'm Quitting This Stupid Job." So if you install those, you might want to hide them from your work friends. Just saying.
I was pleased to read this post; having everyone have access to what is essentially private info. on social networking sites bothers me and it's nice to find that there are other people who think along similar lines.
Posted by: nandita | March 02, 2008 at 01:03 AM