The history of Facebooking Politics (in my FB account)

It was May 2009 when I first engaged in Facebook. It was just starting in the Philippines but already a fast-growing trend in the US. My friend who encouraged me to sign up there said that Friendster had been too crowded that our privacy was very much invaded, and consequently, got “extremely” boring.  So, I decided to sign up and my friend was right, it was an awesome, quiet environment.

 At first, very few people were on my news feed, talking about useful stuff like quotations and significant events. In fact, most of my friends were only those who owned a laptop or a personal computer (but, not me). And, let say or I mean, actually, English was the only language. 

But, as days went by, I noticed that even the rascals on streets with their jejemon language had their own Facebook account. Everybody was leaving Friendster and it turned out to be so obsolete that whoever was still engaging in it would be regarded as left-out.

Deleting of friends, thereby, became a popular move in Facebook and the “sosyal human beings” plus the social climbers got too strict with their privacy, as in you could only see their profile picture.

Later on, I was astounded when I saw a face in the side bar of my FB profile. It was a Filipino politician! And, yes, it was an “omygosh” that they even had their own FB account and now, a “FANPAGE!”.

From then on, everyday got too irritating in Facebook as these political ads started to invade my FB profile. My notifications got too long, including invites, requesting me to like someone’s page or join someone’s campaign. Again, it’s all political.

My news feed was not anymore so interesting to visit since what I could mostly see there were “Vote Manny Villar, ang tunay na mahirap”, political commercials that were not contented with its airtime and were still uploaded and disseminated online, political photos showing Jamby Madrigal picking trash in a dumpsite and so on. The “sosyal” and the social climbers were not able to escape from these, too.

Truly, politics invaded Facebook.

While election campaign period stopped everywhere, in Facebook everything still flowed continuously and irritation was still a problem.

After the election, Pnoy was declared a winner. I thought that their faces would not be shown again in my FB news feed but I was wrong. Pnoy’s pictures, platforms, and speeches crowded in and the losers’ supporters were trying to debate, form a forum via fanpage or simply, a photo comment to vilify Pnoy, as if the election result would be invalidated by their desperate talks.

It took months before these Facebooking politics (FaceBUKING politicians) ended. Though today, political ads still exist in FB, my fear still focuses on the next election. I wonder what would happen to me – either I will transfer to the other social site (if another Harvard student invents one) or I will participate in the commotion to neutralize the effect in me.