Facebook friend requests.
Well, not true friend requests. These are the unsolicitated requests from people you don't know. Don't even have a "mutual friend". Don't even live in the same country. In some cases, you don't even speak the same language.
As I understand it, Facebook is a social networking community, where you can connect with people that you know, or knew long ago and lost touch with. It can also be useful to connect with people who share common interests, hobbies, passions, etc...(this is where those Fan Pages come in handy). I think it's great that we can now communicate with someone 10000 km away about a shared interest in arctic marine biology (or whatever else interests us). Then there are those who use Facebook for professional networking, seeking out people who are in similar or complimentary professions, looking for a little business quid pro quo. This is how I think Facebook intended the site to be used, people connecting with people, and forming (hopefully) a relationship that is beneficial to both parties.
When I signed up on Facebook, my intentions were quite clear as to how I was going to use it. I have no family in Toronto, save for my kids and their dad. Facebook is a great way for me to get daily snapshots of relatives. I know when a cousin is not well, how a niece or nephew is doing in school, hear about mishaps, misunderstandings, or missing a loved one. My friend list, very small, will remain that way. I'm not interested in having hundreds of friends on Facebook. I don't think I even know that many people, and my true, close friends I can count on one hand. I'm now getting to the point of all this, and I'll be very clear. I DO NOT accept a friend request from someone in Smalltown, Indiana, whose only Wall Posts consist of those applications such as "Farmville" or that virtual zoo, or anything else of that nature. In the space of 10 minutes one night, I received 5 friend requests. Only 5, you ask??? What the hell is your beef, you wonder??? My beef is, 5 requests from total strangers, you can't view their profile, their wall is game posts (with a few "Angie is now friends with so-and-so" thrown in), no uploaded photo, and not even a message, "Hi, we both have the same interests, let's be friends". I have to wonder what their motivation is. Collecting "Farmville" recruits for some absurd contest? Are they trying to be my friend to see what personal info I have on Facebook? Whatever it is, I don't buy into it. If you don't know me, you're not going to be my friend. Simple. Please waste someone else's time. I prefer to make my friends in person.... Then we can add each other on Facebook.