The Five Types of Friends I Have on Facebook, Part Two

    Last week, I wrote about some of the problems I have been having with Facebook after some of their recent updates. As a corollary to this, I mentioned how I could divide the types of friends I have there. In a funny way, of course. I detailed the first two types, Mega-posters or Octopuses and Super-sharers.  This week, I will detail the remaining three types. 

    First, there are the Averages. They post a few times a week, for the most part. Some weeks are lighter than others, but they are almost guaranteed to post every week. These posts are a mix of original and shared material. Nothing that out of the ordinary, for the most part. I would put myself into this category. Yes, my main contribution each week is the link to this blogcast, but many weeks I have other posts. For instance, for the past few weeks, I have posted some of my favorite songs that hit number one during my birthday week.  I created this list for when I turned, gulp, fifty. I did one a day for the fifty days up to my birthday. Today, I posted number five, "American Pie" by Don McLean. 

    Next up are the Tagged.  These friends only post every few months or so. Some used to post more frequently, but they have gotten out of the habit. Others go on short bursts of posting, only to settle back to a lower pace. Some just rarely posted at all. The main thing they all have in common is that others mention them in their posts, and I get the posts on my page because the mutual friend got tagged.  Naturally, most of these Tagged posts are my people who aren't on my Friend list.

    Here's an example. Just a few months ago, I noticed people tagging one of my friends with their condolences. Apparently, someone who I'm not friends with, and didn't really know that they even existed until a few years ago, tagged my friend in their post. A mutual relative of theirs had died. I had to go to my friend's page to get confirmation. (Note:  I rarely go to a Friend's page. If they didn't think it was important enough to post something to get it to notify on my page, it might not be important enough for me. However, keep reading.) I saw the obit tagging them on their page. Although I shouldn't have, I kept looking at their page for more information. I kind of felt like a voyeur doing so, but I kept scrolling. When I got to early summer, there was a picture of someone a baby, where my friend was tagged but not in the photo. The post suggested that it may have been my friend's grandchild. That's a lot of information that had been kept offline, probably a marriage as well as a birth. I left without offering any condolences. Not really my thing anyway, but still.

    Finally, we have the final category.  Ghosts. These friends barely, if ever post. Maybe a few times a year. I can't remember some ever posting anything recently. In fact, some dead friends post more frequently than these Ghosts. That's right. Sometimes someone who has the control of an inactive account posts on them somehow. Possibly by accident, but I don't want to ask. It is only because of the green dots I see by their Messenger accounts on the Facebook site that I know that they are still active. Technically. 

    While a little macabre, I can include the actual dead friends as "Ghosts" as well.  There are two or three of them. At least one still gets yearly birthday wishes, and I can't tell if the senders know that the Friend is dead or not. It doesn't seem right to correct them, even by suggesting that they amend the post with "heavenly" or something. (That's not the type of thing I do either.) I feel like I should do something, but I don't know what.

    I have been thinking about other ways to group my Friends, but this basic typing is a good start.