Take a Good Look at My Face(book)

THE TENDENCY FOR social media to explode exponentially is well-documented. MySpace gave way to Facebook and now it's Twitter that's having the adolescent growth spurt. I remember that I joined Facebook, about two years ago, in a flurry of media and TV/Film types rushing to do the same. It quickly became a different way to procrastinate and check in, and a generally harmless to enjoyable social tool.

But like the internet, it's also a place where an idea, or a 'meme' can spread pretty quickly. It all depends if it catches on or not.

For the longest time, I've seen a "25 Random Things About Me" meme bouncing about. A few people I knew attempted it, but it was just another clickable way to spend your Facebook time.

Then a couple of my writer friends did it, and something sort of changed. By the time I did mine, on the weekend, the meme had reached its tipping point.

Now understand, this may only involve a dozen or fifteen people I know, tops. But it's interesting nonetheless because most of them are engaged in the creative fields. So there are intersecting mindsets and approaches.

What strikes me as most interesting is that, given a chance, most writer types will use their "25 Things" to try and articulate the bare bones of some sort of governing philosophy. Now that's something that you just don't generally do. Not in that way, I mean. Not unless you're given to writing manifestos. And let's face it, after the third or fourth one, the only person reading those is that guy working for the NSA. And sadly, he's just skimming for key words.

No, we writers are socialized and prompted to inject that kind of energy into our work. So to see it writ large is kind of like seeing the subtext become text. It's a little thrilling and a lot surprising. I feel like I've learned more about some of my good friends in the last forty-eight hours, than I have in the whole time I've known them.

Writers, most of us anyway, also always know they're writing for an audience. So decoding that layer is tricky, too. There are things that people (myself included) wrote in their lists that clearly reflects not a "world as I see it," but a "me as I'd like you to see me," agenda. There are things that are written from perspectives where you have a counter view, of events or even the basic facts -- but the last thing in the world to do is challenge those items. It would be like wading through someone's cerebellum and kicking the parts of the personality you don't agree with. Brr.

For some, this might seem silly and solipsistic. Just another cry for attention from a group of narcissists who demand too much already.

But there's something else going on in those lists. I've found the details of lives both profound and mundane. Plus beauty, inspiration, undeniable truth, and the unmistakable, comforting tendrils of the common humanity that connects us all.

That's the thing, I guess. You can try to post 25 random things about yourself. But that randomness shatters the moment someone recognizes themselves in you. And I can't help but think that our lives are made better by that.