My name is Megan, and I am a Facebook stalker.
"Stalking" is such an extreme word. I prefer to look at is as being curious or simply staying informed. Look, we all do it (don't we?). We've all been on some one's Facebook page and either out of boredom, curiosity, jealousy or maybe even anger ended up on some one else's page. Sometimes someone so random that you don't even remember how you ended up on their page because you got carried away and kept clicking on person after person (but even then, you now know their life story). I feel obliged to tell you how stalking, er, being curious can get you into trouble if you aren't cautious. Don't make the following mistakes like I have, you can't always recover.
Rule #1: Be careful when searching for specific people. I have, more than once, accidentally typed the name of a person I was searching into my STATUS. Obviously, I don't need to go into detail of the embarrassment that comes along with this. You're pretty much caught at this point unless you have ninja-like reflexes and catch it almost immediately after posting. The good news is, with Facebook changing so often, I believe it has become more difficult to make this mistake. Take caution using mobile applications.
Rule #2: Keep your mouth shut. We often find out so much useful information via Facebook by people so kindly telling every detail of their life but this is not information that can be repeated. I have slipped up repeatedly mentioning things that I should not ever know because I was "learning" about someone. Believe me, when you hear, "hey, how did you know that?" there is only so much you can say without coming clean. Hint, usually "you told me the other day..." works, but you have to say it with an offended tone to make the person feel bad for forgetting a conversation that never really took place.
Rule #3: Keep emotions out of it. This also ties into keeping your mouth shut. You might find something that upsets you. The only time you can confront this is if it is actually a boyfriend/girlfriend, family member or good friend. Or basically anyone that you would actually have a right to stalk or that wouldn't think you're a nut job.
Rule #4: Don't get obsessed. Once you see how much you can find out about a person, it's hard to stay away. I once went a tad crazy by looking through some one's pictures (someone that I am not friends with in real life or on Facebook) and I was paying more attention to the background of the pictures because I just knew I was going to catch something (or rather someone) in the background of these club pictures and I did. I was certain I saw his eyebrow in the corner of a cropped picture. I am aware how crazy that sounds. To make matters worse, I confronted him about it and that was a real fun story to tell about how I knew he was there. By the way, totally wasn't his eyebrow in the picture. Whoopsies.
Rule #5: Be careful while on the page you are "curious" about. I have accidentally "liked" a person's status or picture more than once. Although "unliking" is an easy function, remember, they might still get a notification. There's no recovering from that.
Please note, I do not limit myself to Facebook. I also know my way around a Twitter account. Helpful hint, I once learned the hard way that while looking at some one's Twitpics, it definitely showed the "viewers" and their pictures. Which led to me deleting my avatar and changing my Twitter name briefly. Damage control.
Mark Zuckerberg is an evil genius. Don't judge me just because I'm willing to admit what we all do, just learn from me. Happy stalking!
