Social Networking 2014- Facebook ah? Whatsapp ah?

Admit it. Whatsapp has been eating into your Facebook time for quite a while now.

Though the stats say Facebook users are as active as ever, status updates like “Movie boring..zzzzz”(never mind the trailing lines “..at the Cinemas with Cute Kavi, Bala Boyzz, Banu athai, Kowshi kutti” with the last two not being FB users) and “Had the craziest vaazhakka bajji ever! #semataste” are growing fewer in number. Credit goes to Whatsapp for its no frills status updates with huge user pleasing capabilities as in,


1. Nobody, I repeat, nobody can add a Vadivelu meme as a comment to your status.


2. Opportunities to start a Vijay Vs Ajith presidential debate are considerably less.


3. You don’t have to feel bad for a Selfie that has been “liked” only by 5 people.


4. You can get people to know the kind of loverboy you are by updating “For every beat, my heart keeps saying happy birthday to the one it belongs to… <3 <3 <3 “ without your mom/dad/uncle/HOD-cum-FB account holders snooping about.


5.All you have to do get someone’s number(smirk) is to be in the same group as he/she is etc..etc..



Facebook went through a slight setback when its “Home” User Interface had almost no takers. The idea of a FB live wallpaper sounded interesting but drew flak upon release. It would definitely be interesting to see your flirtatious FB chats suddenly pop up when your brother borrows your “Home” abled phone to play ‘Angry birds Star wars’ .


Privacy issues would continue to boggle FB this year as well (or for all eternity) since the social networker’s mind can hardly be appeased. Every time a poor soul blocks a contact, heaving a sigh of relief (‘very well! He can’t see my picture posts anymore but…darn! I can’t see his posts either!) and reluctantly submits to its consequences, she prays for an improvised, heartbreak friendly facebook. (She later pacifies herself by posting several photos. After all her life is an open book. Anyone can take a look…)


The emergence of the #hashtag in twitter has had amazing and at times appalling effects. It provides fodder for print media who have dedicated sections to such tweets tracked by hashtags. So we had hashtags ranging from the Good (#Uttarakhand, #ThankYouSachin) to the Bad (#NotaWimbledonbabe that referred to Grand Slam champ Marion Bartelli’s looks). Its popularity soared after Facebook borrowed the hashtags to add glitter to its gold. Ultimately, the realisation dawns the moment you find there’s a whole lot more to these symbols than just check your mobile balance.


The pinboard style Pinterest has garnered rave reviews for making us come as close as possible to organizing stuff that we find in the Internet. With the RSS feed taking a blow with the “death” of Google Reader, we seek better options to keep track of all that information out there.


Now, back to the FB Vs Whatsapp debate. We can for once liken Whatsapp to the Aam Aadmi Party. Eating into the votes of the giants(BJP and Cong.) was a piece of cake for the AAP** as was taking some of the sheen away from Facebook for Whatsapp. It is a universally acknowledged fact that Whatsapp isn’t superior to Facebook, it is only more convenient during crucial times when we get confused whether to pick the green shoes with the brown laces or the brown shoes with the green laces. The best solution is arrived at, the very instant we send photos of them to mom who helps us choose.(As always, mother knows best!)

**Written at a time before Whatsapp was acquired by Facebook and we all know what happened to AAP...