So recently a colleague suggested I should "friend" Clark Judge on Facebook. Clark is a former George H.W. Bush speechwriter who runs the White House Writers Group. Clark and I have corresponded over the years and he's spoken at several conferences I've put on. He's a smart conservative (a real niche in Washington these days).
So I "friend" Clark, and he friends me back.
Here's where it gets interesting:
Clark is a big wheel, so I go searching his friends, looking for famous people I can friend.
I friend David Frum, speechwriter-turned-pundit who notoriously penned the line "axis of evil" for President Bush.
Frum friends me back and I go searching for luminaries among his friends, which include Tucker Carlson. I friend Tucker, telling him in a note, that I'm friends with Frum. (Well, I am, aren't I?) I also suggest that Tucker should subscribe to my weekly e-zine, the Executive Communication Report, which might provide him an occasional insight and some grist for the 24-hour cable TV mouth-flapping mill.
Tucker friends me back, thanks me for the link and declares his intention to subscribe to the e-zine, which is cool. Not content, I of course search his friends, and friend several of them.
Scared about who I might friend next, I call it a night and go to bed. In the morning, I find this in my e-mail:
From: Facebook <confirm+ogpll6r1@facebookmail.com>
Reply-To: noreply <noreply@facebookmail.com>
Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2009 08:02:17 -0800
To: David Murray <dmurrayil@earthlink.net>
Subject: G Gordon Liddy confirmed you as a friend on Facebook…
G Gordon confirmed you as a friend on Facebook.
To view G Gordon's profile or write on his Wall, follow this link:
http://www.facebook.com/n/?profile.php&id=1151858208&aref=23362854
Everybody's Facebooking and Linking-In these days. What are your adventures in online grab-ass?
I read two books by A.J. Jacobs…”The Know-It-All” where he reads through the entire Encyclopedia Brittanica in a year and writes about everything he’s learned. And “The Year of Living Biblically” where he lives for one year by every rule found in the entire bible, even foregoing shaving and wearing all white, much to the chagrin of his wife, who refuses to kiss him for months on end. Very funny writer.
So I searched and found him on FB, friended him, and alas, he friended me back. Then I went to see his friends list and I’m one of 2,500+. Ah, well.
The Tuckman, as I call him, and “G”–they’ve only got about 700-something each. It feels very intimate.
I saw a T-shirt awhile back that said “I Facebooked your Mom.”
I think you need to get a T-shirt made that says “I’m Facebook friends with G. Gordon Liddy.”
Re: online grab-ass, I’m FB friends with Steven Raichlen, the God of barbecue cookbooks, which is pretty cool.
No online grab-ass yet… I’m thinking of “friending” this curmudgeonly blog writer I know, but I’m afraid I might end up as fodder for his blog.
Very good, Vincent, but don’t go using me to get to my new friends.
fUzFDF http://djg8Dnw3NxU82k0Skg.com
llTa7s http://djtnG49Nsl0g2KasFu.com