Friend whores

I don't get the whole collecting "friends" on Facebook.  Every one my FB is actually someone I know.  Or knew.  All except one person.

She requested to be my friend and I asked if I knew her.  I googled her and found her to be the wife of a guy who's published a number of books about yoga/buddhism.  She also "knows" some of my yoga buds.  So I added her (she also wrote me and told me she was trying to hook up with like-minded people).  

About every day she posts a status that is inspirational.  My status posts are rarely inspirational (ok, so far, have never been inspirational).  I would not call them yogic either.  But then my life isn't focused on "yogic".  Unless you count just living my life.  

And I realized this woman is actually doing it as a way to market herself.  I fnd that distasteful.

A person I know on FB has actually added some of my friends that there is no way she knows.  She might know who they are but they're not really her friends.  Some of my real life friends (who I see or talk to all the time) added her becaue they thought they might know her and then realized the only thing they have in common is me or my husband.  They don't know her and aren't likely to ever meet her in person.

I have a horrible allergy to people who sidle up to you too quickly and pretend they're your friend who can easily joke with you, etc.  Unless there is instant two-way connection (and there is always that certain something when both of you are totally in sync) I start getting claustrophobic.  Usually those friend whores invade your personal space.  I step back, they step forward, I step back again, they move even closer.  I want to run from them.  I start to itch and I want to dose them with Benedryl.

I'm not desperate for friends or for friendship.  I have plenty of friends and those are the ones I keep in contact with.  Either in real life or online via FB, my blog or email.

Networking is a fine idea for those who want to collect faces.  But it's also a fine idea to keep your friends your friends and not people you know by face.  I choose not to be a friend whore.