There is a wave of Facebook-friending going around the Stanford GSB Class of 2011 circuit right now. I have accumulated about a dozen "friends" from my class, most of whom I talked to for <10 minutes at admit weekend, some of whom I have never met in person. I mean, it's nice to connect with people and stay in touch, but it's a little weird to me. I think I'm going to hold off friending anyone until I get to school and figure out who I'm actually going to be friends with.
Also, I just pruned about 50 friends from my account and am not eager to see the number of relative unknowns jump up again. Dear reader, don't assume that those I defriended were frenemies; in truth, I don't have the balls to ex-communicate those I truly dislike. Rather, the people I cut were mostly folks with whom I went to college and of whom I have zero recollection. When I accepted their offers of friendship, I assumed a dozen photo albums and a list of favorite flicks might jog my memory... nope. CUT. Also, I made the rounds of removing friends of friends with whom I partied once... four years ago.
Advice to other prematriculants: always accept your new classmates' friend invitations, but refrain from extending many yourself until you have figured who you're actually going to be friends with... unless you are one of those super people who just loves to keep up with their 2,038 close friends.
Transit Tech Lab
3 months ago
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3 comments:
Very true. Though I also think people want to get to know their class mates and in the absence of an official class "guide" people are using the GSB fb group.
Not to crush your opinion, but friend them all! Exchange messages and build the bonds now. Yes, you may not be "friends" with these people when you get to school, but you will meet them and figure out who they are. If you're worried, create a group GSB '11 - it'll help to keep them sorted. Further, these people are your future network and believe it or not, I've been told that Facebook is better for networking than LinkedIn. Just a thought.
I agree with JulyDream. Even though I have friends who are people I don't recognize from high school or someone I just met who's going to other b-schools, I would never want to offend someone by unfriending them. People don't take that stuff lightly.
I used to like facebook back when it really was just my friends, but now I'm resigned to having it be for acquaintances too. Just post less personal information.
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