Naturally, my frequenting of facebook increases exponentially, and seeing the same, inane scribblings most people call a 'status update' annoys me even more so than usual.
In the spirit of legal tests, here's one for whether a facebook status update is appropriate or not. (Naturally I ask you to follow the VUWLS Style Guide when you cite this test.) Take heed post-modernists, your posts should be diamonds in the rough, not background noise.
1. IS IT SIGNIFICANT? - Is the substance of the post significant enough for the reasonable person to find it interesting and/or relevant? What you had for lunch, how you feel, emoticons are trite, unnecessary and you are boring the fuck out of people.
2. IS IT RELEVANT? - Would a significant proportion of facebook users find your update relevant? If your update alludes to just a few select people, post it on their walls, tag the relevant people if necessary. Otherwise I would analogise this with telling a crowd of people an in-joke with a loudspeaker.
3. IS IT INFORMATIVE/INTERESTING/FUNNY? - does the post should provoke some sort of emotional or intellectual response? The purpose of a status update is to update people, not to annoy people.
A good indication of a good post is one which provokes responses, in the form of "Likes" or comments. If it was one worth posting, you should be getting a minimum of 5-10 responses. If one of your status updates gets less, be ashamed, you should probably go to confession.
Ignore this at your peril - you may find yourself getting blocked, or losing friends as people delete you.
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