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Facebook feature can amuse, enlighten -- or annoy

Nathan J. Comp
Special to The Capital Times  —  5/15/2008 2:40 pm

Ryan Zeinert has a wife, job and a blog, obligations that sometimes leave him little time to keep in touch with friends and others. Since he bought a house last month, time has become an even scarcer commodity. The last thing he has time for is gabbing on the phone with a gang of people.

Fortunately, Zeinert, 27, can communicate effortlessly with hundreds of people simultaneously through the popular social networking site Facebook. Using the "status update" function, Zeinert each day delivers a one-line missive to those in his friend network, such as "Ryan is one spoonful of mayo away from a full-blown heart attack," or "Ryan has more Facebook friends than the combined number of human beings he has spoken to in his life."

Friends are notified of Zeinert's status updates through their news feeds, a virtual kiosk that alerts users to changes in their friends' profiles.

"I use status updates as a way to tell people what I'm thinking about and to make them laugh within the confines of one line," said Zeinert, whose blog, theCDP.net, is rated one of Wisconsin's best humor blogs in the 2008 Bloggers' Choice Awards. "It's a painless way to let people know that you're still alive without actually having to talk to them."

Unlike other popular networking sites, Facebook draws older, more professional users, like Zeinert, an exam administrator for the Wisconsin Department of Regulation and Licensing. Launched by Harvard University student Mark Zuckerberg in 2004, Facebook was open only to Ivy League college students and alumni at first. The general public gained access two years later. Since then, membership has swelled to more than 69 million users.

Typically, status updates reflect on one's well-being. One user recently wrote that she "is recovering from a fantastic sandwich." Another wrote that she "is contemplating taking a hiatus from Madison's awesome nightlife." Another declared that she "is officially cool and with the times."

When the status update debuted in April 2006, few saw it as a serious vehicle for communication, but over time the function increasingly has been used to convey authentic sentiments. Still, many, like Zeinert, go for laughs when crafting status updates. Sometimes he goes for the absurd, with updates like, "Ryan is with Jesus now." Zeinert enjoys reading his friends' updates even more than writing his own.

"You can really learn a lot about people from their status updates," he said. "They help you know where people are at with their lives. I check every morning to see who is updating what, who's in and out of what relationships, who's leaving what groups. It really speaks volumes."

Last year, the popular Facebook tool even caused a minor brouhaha among users who sought more freedom when defining their status. Nearly 200,000 people petitioned site engineers to drop the "is" from the function, and Facebook eventually relented. The lack of verb options often led to grammatically incorrect updates, such as, "[Bob] is hated the season finale of Lost." Users can now use any verb they prefer.

But not all Facebook users employ status updates. Some even shun the function altogether as a matter of principle. UW-Madison political science student Sarah Shanahan, 23, has never written a status update and never will, she said.

"I don't use status updates for the same reason I don't carry my cell phone everywhere I go: People don't always need to know my business," she said. "If you want to know how I'm doing, call me, although I probably won't answer my phone."

Her boyfriend, Cameron Connors, also has a Facebook account, but rarely uses it. He, too, laments the status update function.

"Status updates have been hijacked by hipsters who use them ironically," he said. "I don't use them at all. Really, I don't even like Facebook."

UW-Madison journalism Professor Katy Culver sees things differently. For her, Facebook keeps open a line of communication with people who aren't close friends or family, namely her students. Like Zeinert, Culver discerns a lot from status updates.

"I recently learned that a student of mine got engaged, because they wrote it in their status update," she said. "For me, it's a tremendously healthy form of communication because I'm communicating with people who are important to me, like former students. They're not people I would call up on the cell phone."

Several times over the last two years, Kevin Kopplin has logged on to Facebook to find that his girlfriend, Kendra Frank, has either attacked him via her status update or changed her relationship status to "single."

Kopplin said it's embarrassing when Frank publicizes their tiffs on Facebook.

"Sometimes I'll get an e-mail from friends asking, 'What happened?'" said Kopplin, a clerk at the Market Basket on East Mifflin Street. "We try to make a point of keeping dirty laundry out of the news feed. Using a third party to communicate is pretty annoying."

Frank returns the criticism.

"He used to do it, too, but he doesn't anymore," she says. "We try not to look at each other's Facebook profiles."

Many oppose using status updates to express ill will.

"Facebook has allowed passive-aggressive people to be considerably more passive-aggressive," Zeinert said. "If something happens, they can easily let everyone in their circle know about it. In that regard, it's kind of a jerk move. I wouldn't do it. If I get into a fight you won't find it on my profile."

Deliberately opting to not pick fights on Facebook doesn't mean users don't occasionally do inadvertent things that send the wrong message. Culver's own inauspicious beginnings on Facebook are a case in point. Not only did she amputate her husband from her profile picture, but she accidentally set her relationship status -- another Facebook feature -- as "looking for relationship."

"A student wrote me and said, 'I don't think [your husband] would be too happy about that," Culver said.

But status updates have at times compelled her to reach out to people, especially if the updates express grief or unhappiness, she added.

"Occasionally, if someone does put on their status update that they're having a rough time, it's a nice way to reach out and say, 'I'm sorry about that,'" she said. "It can be healthy to be better connected with your friends."

While Zeinert admittedly uses status updates to stay in touch with friends and acquaintances, to him the function is more artful than people give it credit for.

"It's a way to express your personality, to express what you're doing and interested in all in one line. It's got a subtle beauty to it," says Zeinert. "I like the challenge of writing a joke in less than 10 words, make it catchy, laugh and move on. People don't care what you're doing. They just want to be interested in what you're doing."

Nathan J. Comp
Special to The Capital Times  —  5/15/2008 2:40 pm