I love facebook. I love the transparency that facebook facilitates. I love the way it connects me to people. I love the way it allows me to get to know people on a personal & professional basis. I love the way that I can learn more about their interests, thoughts, activities, personalities, groups, photos, videos etc…

Here is what I don’t like.

People that start right out of the gate trying to start a “friendship” while wearing a mask and hiding behind images that are not of them. This is hardly transparent behavior. People are posting profile pictures as that of their dogs, logos, artwork, cartoons, buildings, the 3 stooges, kids, etc. I disdain this. I want to see YOUR FACE.

I have started to see more of this as a recent facebook micro-trend. Not a big trend; but enough to mention it here.

People ask to be my friend and I do not know them in the real world. If I have a picture of them; it sub-consciously allows me to instantly feel like they are more human. I like the fact that I am wired in a very visual way (little known fact about me: I see brand logo’s in my sleep).

On any social networking site (but especially facebook); it is “Brand You”. You should be who you say you are on facebook. It is central to the Facebook DNA and the origins of the site and the communities expectations. Hence the name FACEbook. You can share all those interesting/funny/goofy images in your photo albums if you want to be associated with those images.

So tell all your friends or people that you know that do this, that it is not cute or funny. It lessens the transparency that is facebook. It might sound odd; but I never friend people that behave this way. Oh yea… they just might make real world friends if they post a picture of themselves in their profile.

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