Big Brother is watching and his name is Facebook

Did you ever take real close notice of how Facebook seems to know everything about you? It knows what you do, what you like, what you purchase, where you go and a whole lot of other stuff. Pretty soon, it’s going to know when you take a bathroom break! Facebook is watching you.

Most of us sorta kinda know this and we tolerate it. You can’t do internet business these days without Facebook and it is THE best way to keep up with friends and family. It provides a service. . . a valuable one. And, therefore, I guess, Zuck and company feel they can pry into everything in our lives in return. It’s one of those necessary evils of the modern age.

This morning, however, I noticed something new in Facebook’s observant ways. When I went to say Happy Birthday to the names that came up on the right side of the page, there was the standard window to type your greeting in, but there was also something else. Actually, I had noticed the line about, “Do you want to send Poindexter a gift?” before. I’m like, “Yeah, if I want to send him a gift, I’ll do it myself. Bite me.”

But today there was an added attraction. I got a list of Poindexter’s likes! Under the box was the “Do you want to send Poindexter a gift” routine and then. . . a list of what Poindexter likes! In this case, my Poindexter likes Starbucks, 1-800-Flowers and I forget what else.

So busybody me decided to click on the Starbucks link to see what it did. It took me to a page to purchase a $5 Starbucks gift card for Poindexter. A couple of clicks and VOILA. . . instant birthday gift! Now I can see where this could come in handy, especially if someone was close to you and you forgot their birthday. It says “I care,” a little bit more than just writing “Happy Birthday” on their wall does. But still. . .

People that I would spend money on a gift for, well, I know what they like. I don’t need to be told. When I thought about it for more than a few seconds, it felt creepy. I love being reminded of birthdays and it takes maybe 5 seconds to write “Happy Birthday” in that box and brighten someone’s day. But now Facebook is trying to make me spend money and then telling me what to spend it on. This could make Old Busted Hotness mighty paranoid if they keep it up!

What gets to me is how they seem to be watching us outside of Facebook, too. I’ve had things pop up on my sidebars that I’ve looked at on Amazon and a few other mass market retailers. Are they connected? If so, wouldn’t it be nice to let us know? Does Facebook have tracking cookies that follow us all over the net? It’s one thing to shadow us on Facebook, but other places?

I know that Facebook is one big advertising ploy to bring advertisers to it by providing them with a humongous potential customer base, but come on, Zuck. . . you’re seriously starting to creep me out. If I sign on one day and hear “Twilight Zone” music, Old Busted Hotness is gonna really freak out big time! I can guarantee you it won’t be pretty.