I'm not your friend! (yet)

Stranger Danger! Social media is letting a lot of new people into my life–and I think I like it.

For those of you old enough to remember the 80's song by Rockwell; "Some body's watching me"–I am sooo there! If you are plugged in to any type of social media web site, social smart phone App or chat board these days, then you have been exposed to the online world of social networking. A virtual place where you have Avatars, profile pics and obtuse descriptions of yourself to tell the world who you are, what you're all about and what you are up to; moment-by-moment.

And we're all hopelessly addicted.

I mean, how many "friend requests" on FaceBook have you answered in the past year? I don't just mean long lost high school buds or someone you worked with once upon a time. Those folks, to me, are more or less what FaceBook is for. No, I mean the completely random Twitter Zombies or the unknown FaceBookers who read some random comment you made on a mutual friend's page? Or maybe they are simply looking to pump up the number of friends on their friend list. So what? Who cares? I care. So you have asked to be my–uh–"friend"? Oh well, since we're friends, come on in!

It has been long rumored that FaceBook pays special attention to people with friends lists of a certain volume. I guess the thinking is, if this person has 5,400+ followers, they must be important. They're not. These people are no more or less relevant than you or I. They just spend more time than we do building lists of fictitious "friends" for some yet-to-be determined master-plan for world dominance. Clearly, they don't spend their time doing far more constructive things–you know, like ranting about social media conspiracies on do-it-yourself blogs.

I just can't seem to get away from sharing me with the world, my thoughts and opinions (haven't you noticed?), my favorite foods, colors, movies, video games and graphic novels (that's a fancy name for $20 comic books that will later get made into blockbuster movies!). And there are so many ways to get connected, my head spins—or maybe those are just the eyes on my XBOX 360 Avatar–hard to keep track of at this point.

And so it goes, as the Mythos of Me continues to grow, I am swept into a tidal pool of self-actualized relevance. I am my own best/worst PR engine and I just might be the most important human being on Earth. At least I think so, the world just hasn't discovered me yet. Don't worry, though, I'm working on it. I believe, as the saying goes, there's an App for that.

As a good friend once jokingly shared at a recent high school reunion; "I love me some me."

Amen, brother. Amen.