Wednesday, April 9, 2014

This is Why We Can't Be Friends on Social Media

So there I was, sitting in the lunch room at work, eating my sandwich when someone passed around a photo book of a coworker's little boy.  Flipping through the book, the conversation wandered into the "Where'd you get that? That's so cute!" realm.  Then came the discussion of which photo site was the best and most economical, where you can find coupons, etc. 

Then, out of nowhere, I get hit with this..."Did you know that Walgreens can print a book from your Facebook photos?  Not just yours but your friend's and families' too! How cool is that?"

The nice lady that said this was genuinely helpful in offering this little tidbit of information.  And I'm sure to normal people this sounds like a fantastic idea.

But, then there's me.  I'm a weirdo, so my first thought was (and I instantly said it out loud without thinking how odd it was) "What?! You mean I could have a WHOLE photo book of your pictures?" as I slowly turned to my friend/coworker sitting next to me, with my wide, crazy-eyed, Norman Bates glare. 

We instantly burst into laughter because she understands my humor and that I am, indeed, a creep. We continued the crazed, creeper conversation as such:

Me:  "You mean I could just upload some random friend's photos and make a whole book of them?  Like, the next time you come over, you'll just see a coffee table book in my living room with a bunch of pictures of you?  That's awesome."

Friend:  *laughs uncontrollably*

Me:  "Look, here's you when you were in high school.  And here's a picture of when you were pregnant.  And here's one of the baby shower."

Friend:  "Yeah, and it's a baby shower that you weren't even invited to.  Like, the family baby shower."

Me:  *dies laughing*

This idiocy went on for a few more minutes with creepy voice overs and facial expressions but I'm sure you get the picture.

So, of course, that night I started thinking of how crazy this is; that you can print someone else's pictures.  And naturally, I had to taunt the conversation even more.  So, at 10:30 at night I sent the following message to my friend from the lunch conversation:

Me:  "Hey, so, I'm in the midst of putting together this coffee table book of photos for a friend and I'm needing your opinion...for the cover, should I go with a more recent photo or an older photo of them looking all youthful? Just asking...for a friend. Man, I love Facebook!!!"

Friend: "I'd go more youthful...so they know you remember them in the good ole days!"

Me:  "Thanks for the help! Hey, by the way, do you happen to have any pictures of you playing softball? Just wondering. Good night!"

Friend: "That's an odd question...but I'm sure there are some on Facebook somewhere! Did your friend play with me? She is going to love the memory book!"

Me: "Ummmmm, yeah. I'm pretty sure. Thanks!"

So this really got me thinking, can people really do this?  Can someone that I am casual friends with on Facebook upload and print my photos from Walgreens?  The answer, unfortunately, is yes.  I looked into it, not to be creepy but to verify this disturbing information.  You can see for yourself here at the Walgreens website

So if you will excuse me, I have some settings on my social media I need to adjust.  I'll just leave you all here to discuss.

Should someone else be able to upload your photos and print them? 




 
 
If  you enjoyed this post check out Dalai Mama on Facebook and Twitter! 

No comments:

Post a Comment