I admit… these Facebook status games need to stop. Truth is… I admit… and Inbox me a number all have one thing in common: to get more ‘Likes’ from friends. Why has this new fad to get ‘Likes’ spread all across Facebook? Does getting more ‘Likes’ think you’re cooler or more popular than anyone else? No, it’s just dumb.
Facebook is a social networking site as most of you already know. It is not a site that gives rewards for getting a certain number of ‘Likes’, and the ‘Like’ button is definitely not the main attraction of Facebook. So why are so many people infatuated with getting ‘Likes’ on their profiles?
Sure, it may give some self-esteem, but enough of it to make you want to spend hours replying to all of the ‘Likes’?
Not only do the status-gamers spend countless minutes trying to reply to everybody that ‘Liked’ their status, but now they have to do whatever the status says they will. Yeah…. Okay. People can write whatever they want and call it the ‘truth’, but in between those two people, they know better than that. To test it out, I ‘Liked’ a few statuses to see what people who I don’t talk to every day would say. After reading the message they posted on my wall, I laughed. They wrote things like, “I wish we could hang out more often” or “I love your eyes” or something along those cliché lines. The things that people write as the ‘truth’ aren’t always ‘the truth’, and the fact that it’s not ‘the truth’ defeats the purpose of the entire status-gaming system.
My friend knew that I thought the status games were dumb, so she deliberately set my status as Truth is… Within minutes I had five or six likes. Once I noticed what she did, I though I’d try to respond to a few of them. The first one I replied to was a good friend, and even what I wrote to her wasn’t completely ‘the truth’. After the second one I was so bored and tired with it that I just stopped replying, and I’m grateful I have the capacity to analyze and distribute my time wisely.
To this day, I am still trying to figure out why anyone would willingly spend hours on Facebook responding to people you never met before and telling them the ‘truth’ when both people (the “Like’er and the status-gamer) know that the entire thing is bogus. I don’t know, it beats me.
Christopher lee • Jan 25, 2011 at 2:14 PM
those status games are so annoying -_- its spammed all across my wall
Jeric Agnes • Jan 25, 2011 at 2:12 PM
WOW THIS IS AMAZING!!!
Lauren • Jan 25, 2011 at 2:00 PM
i just wanted a lollipop….
Jambi Evangelista • Jan 25, 2011 at 1:40 PM
*like* Elliot’s comment
Jovy Max • Jan 25, 2011 at 1:01 PM
Ivana, you’re my role model. You’re a genius, and I seriously miss being your
P.E. leader. <3
jinks • Jan 9, 2011 at 1:21 AM
Whats wrong with people feeling better about themselves?
Sure, it might not be honest opinions but hey, I think whats important is that these comments boost a person’s self esteem when they’re not feeling great about themselves. So I get a cliche comment saying I have “nice eyes.” Ill take it, and who knows? That person just might mean it.
Michelle Kim • Jan 7, 2011 at 7:50 PM
This is so true. You are genius.
elliott kerbel • Jan 7, 2011 at 12:58 PM
I like salad
Brinda • Jan 7, 2011 at 12:14 AM
All I have to say is that this is purely a scheme to boost one’s ego.
Ivana Kosir • Jan 5, 2011 at 10:26 AM
deadmau5- Deleting a Facebook account is not the solution to this outbreak of status games. The purpose of Facebook is to connect to people online. It is a social networking site. I didn’t open an account to play games or ‘Like’ statuses. It would be weak to delete my account solely because of these status games. Freshmen and sophomores aren’t the only people who play these games, and it wouldn’t be accurate to blame them.
jefe- I agree with you, and thanks for your readership.
Shake n’ bake- Thanks for reading this and commenting.
deadmau5 • Jan 5, 2011 at 8:43 PM
liking a status is a subtle way to tell somebody you agree with them, laugh with them, and/ or acknowledged their post. if somebody posts a popular or funny post, it’s not wrong for them to like it. it also may give the person who posted it some closure, or affection. to tell people to stop is rude. it is also rude that you only acknowledged and thanked the people who agree with you below me. you participated in the “liking status game” and people gave you feedback. who are you to decide what is a genuine or fake. the fact that you don’t take compliments well, and turn your back to them is quite worrisome.
concerned and confused reader -joel thomas zimmerman
Ivana Kosir • Jan 6, 2011 at 6:02 PM
I agree with you when you say that “liking a status is a subtle way to tell somebody you agree with them or laugh with them”, and I don’t feel that it is wrong to like a status when it is an original statement whose purpose isn’t to get ‘Likes’. I have no control whether or not people stop playing these games; I am only saying that I think they are annoying and dumb. It is was up to me, I would stop it, but it’s not, so I can’t. I am only stating my opinion in this column. You are not obliged to agree with me. I ‘Liked’ a few statuses of people I don’t talk to on a regular basis. When they started saying things as if they talk to me every day and had numerous inside jokes with me, I knew it was fake. The people also told other ‘Likers’ very similar things that they told me, so it couldn’t have been genuine.
And for the record, I did acknowledge people who disagree with me. My first comment says ‘Thanks for your input.’ But one more time won’t hurt anybody.
Thanks for reading my blog, commenting, and sharing your opinions. As ironic as it sounds, I truly do appreciate them.
Shake n' bake • Jan 4, 2011 at 10:33 PM
Haha! this article is funny, and I totally agree!
jefe • Jan 4, 2011 at 10:30 PM
Sure, it feels good to hear someone say something good about you, but you must realize that what people are posting on your Facebook wall probably isn’t what that person really thinks about you. And for that reason, I agree with Ivana Kosir. People are wasting their time making statuses to get “likes”, and those “likers” are seeking some phony compliments that are totally meaningless and have probably been written to 5 other people as well. What a waste of time.
Great article Ivana!
deadmau5 • Jan 4, 2011 at 7:11 PM
if you have such a problem with it, delete your facebook, or block the spamming “friend”. what you also forgot to mention that it most of the ridiculous spamming comes from freshman and sophomores. and it is a website made for socializing so i don’t know what you were expecting from immature freshman.
Ivana Kosir • Jan 4, 2011 at 10:41 AM
Thanks for your input.
Konner Scott • Jan 3, 2011 at 7:35 PM
It’s more than just about getting likes; it’s a psychological thing.
People post attention-grabbing statuses such as the “truth is” and “inbox me a number” phenomena in order to provoke others into doing the same thing. This way, they can elicit the same type of information from the targeted people, and since most of the feedback is positive, it can be a self-esteem booster. People love to be told positive things about themselves, whether or not they’re cliché or lacking heart, and these status games are their way of spreading the responses they had hoped to get.
For this reason, although some may see them as a time waster, these status games have some good to them; they invoke support and reassurance, which everybody needs, whether or not they’ll admit it. It’s more or less an easy way to share some positive energy. Nobody is forced to play along if they don’t want to, leaving it a conscious choice for those targeted.
Rebecca Yun • Jan 3, 2011 at 3:16 PM
I seriously don’t understand why everyone has to have a Facebook account. I don’t have one myself, but only because I think that it is a waste of my time (Sorry, Facebook users). Lots of people “friend” others that they don’t even know, some from places they haven’t even heard about. I think that the only reason why people go on Facebook is because they want to feel popular, so they accept friend requests from people they have never met in their life. The “likes” are another thing contributing to the problem. Whenever someone gets a “like”, it makes their day because it probably made the person feel more important. Long story short, you shouldn’t need Facebook to feel good about yourself. Sorry if I sounded cliche just now.
soccerforlife • Jan 3, 2011 at 11:02 AM
this article is kind of confusing article. you are confusing “likes” and wall posts. no one responds to “likes”. “likes” are just an easier and less awkward way to say u like something as opposed to taking the time to type something fake.
punjabgurl66 • Jan 5, 2011 at 6:43 PM
Ivana Kosir is not confusing “likes” and wall posts because in fact, the whole idea of these status games are to respond to “likes’. Someone likes your status, and you go and write on their wall. I think that is a response to the “like”. It is not that the article or the author is being confusing, rather that you misunderstood what she was saying, or do not understand how these status games work- or rather, do not work.
Sure, their purpose is to spread the truth (Truth is), but what they are doing is spreading false compliments and wasting precious time. The way Ivana Kosir sees it is the way I see it. soccerforlife, maybe you did not understand status games earlier; Well now I hope you do.
Great article, Ivana Kosir.