Thursday, January 11, 2007

Facebook friends, but you don't know my byline

So what do you do when a source finds you on Facebook?

If you're me, you add him as a friend.

I'd finally gotten a chance to interview a Brown University student for a story I'm doing. I hung up the phone with him, ordered some General Tso's chicken and went to pick it up. I got back to my desk and logged onto my e-mail.

One new message.

"John Q. Public has added you as a friend on Facebook"

I do a double take at the name. Didn't I just hang up the phone with this guy? I log onto Facebook and did what any person does when you get a friend request from someone you really don't know - checked out his page.

Facebook, which emerged in the last few years as THE social networking Web site for college students, is a way to keep in contact with friends from your alma mater, and now, even with friends from anywhere.

John Q.'s page was pretty scarce. I saw a few organizations. Some leadership positions. A job entry. An unsourced quote in his "about me" section.

I browse through his pictures, getting an idea of who I was to look for the next night when we hooked up for an interview. Then I figured, why not, and pressed accept.

I noted that we met randomly in 2007.

Gotta love technology.
continue...

Posted by T Dot at 5:03 PM | link

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