Things I learn from Facebook

Facebook creeping is kind of a guilty pleasure of mine. I love being able to look up people I haven't seen for a while and see how they're doing or what they're up to, and I'd suspect that a lot of other people do the same.

I learn a lot that way, though I don't always want to admit it. Sometimes I'll ask people questions I already know the answers to just to make conversation and becasue I think there's a bit of a stigma associated with creeping around on facebook, even if people make the info available for you to see.

Maybe it's that when you call or meet someone and ask them a question they know you're inquiring about them, but when you fill out your profile on facebook, any number of nameless, faceless persons could view it, and they don't have to bother telling you that they did.

But I learn things from all of this, which I like. I've always found it interesting to see that two completely unrelated people who each know me can have other mutual friends without knowing each other. As someone who sits on the outer edge of a lot of very different social circles, I think it's fascinating to see how they relate to each other.

It's what I learn about myself that is the most interesting, though. Something that facebook has revealed to me recently is that my gaydar is sexist. I'm usually pretty good at identifying or at least suspecting beyond a reasonable doubt when guys are gay, even if they aren't overtly so.

But women? Unless they say they are, I just can't tell. This is something I just would not have known without facebook.

Is this revelation the least bit important? Does it change anything about anything? Probably not.