03 April 2011

Engaged?

If there is anything I have learned today it is that anything posted on Facebook must be true. Isn't it?



Today I posted this picture of a hand with an engagement ring on it and I captioned it "<3". That was it, plain and simple. I obviously had one thing in mind, April Fool's, and I was going to do whatever it took to avoid giving myself away. So, the first few comments were along the lines of "omg! congrats!" But my best friend, Ashley (whom I love dearly for this) posted "^silly people." I, of course, texted her and asked her to delete it (more like told- oops). And she did, I really appreciated it.
But, Ashley had a point. It was silly (not to discredit those who posted because, really, I had a ring. It was a good kicker). But, a few things. My Facebook has said single for years, even though I had a rebuttal for that: "I have been keeping it a secret, because I wasn't sure where it would go."
And then there was the fact that there were no pictures of me and him. I blew off that question. I didn't have a good answer that would actually serve the purpose. Or, the fact that I have never once even posted about being on a date. I could get away with that though.
The biggest reason no one should have believed me, given that it's a transparent prank anyways, it's April Fools' Day. We seem to forget that it is April Fools' Day and I saw a lot of people fall for a lot of pranks, some well thought through and others were not. Four friends announced that they were pregnant (it seems like a lot of women are pregnant on April 1st.. hmmm Valentines babies?), someone was moving and marrying a girlfriend, another was moving to Costa Rica and another's husband was recalled in the Marine Corps.
So why is it that we are so quick to believe what friends post on Facebook? I'd venture to say, perhaps it's the lack of actual communication. Facebook can be defined as Mass Communication because our message reaches a large group of people (depending on how many friends you have). And there is nothing personal about it. Of course we have our close friends that we will communicate, but it's still not personal. This means that when I post an engagement ring, "Jon Smith" whom I haven't seen since high school, has no idea if I am kidding or not. I can't fault him for that, he's going off of what I post.
This isn't a good thing or a bad thing, it just is. It's what our generation is becoming. We've all been guilty of it at one point or another, and some worse than others. I don't think that we know any better. It's become so natural to "communicate" with people we haven't seen in years. 
The other thing is that jokes like this are so much easier to pull off, because they do reach that mass audience. Before the internet and Facebook, if we wanted to pull off the "I'm engaged" prank it took much more work than a picture. But, we live in an era where mass communication is achievable for anyone.
Oh and my prank? Turned out amazingly. A GREAT friend of mine ended up commenting like he was this fiancee. And then my relationship status went from "engaged" to "engaged to..." And all my friends who were in on it, played along.
Thank you to all my friends who played along. And to all the friends who fell for it <3 It turned into an incredible social experiment and an AMAZING experience. I definitely enjoyed it.

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2 comments:

  1. Haha I didn't. And you know why? You said a few hours before that you were out with a girlfriend somewhere. Surely not enough time to get engaged... AND if it was that night, it would have been night, and it looks as though sunlight is shining on your hand in the pic :-p


    I'm also super paranoid on the 1st and REFUSE to believe anything!

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  2. I remember thinking: "Wait ... what?! I thought she was single...."

    ... and yet I congratulated anyway.
    Clearly: T has her "dur" moments more often than I like to admit. ;)

    PS: You ass. I hate being punk'd. If you look up the word gullible in the dictionary: my face is right next to the definition.

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