Be the ultimate maco!!

*Maco (pronounced mah-co)- eavesdropper, busybody, a gossip (also a verb)
*Macocious - adjective or adverb describing such a person or behaviour
*"Maco" is also available in whatever other parts of speech you may need

Ok, so they finally got me to join Facebook, which, after really going through the website now, I consider to be the ultimate macoing tool. It is interesting how you can't get too much in depth info on the FAQ or whatever they have unless you REGISTER. Trap trap trap. I must note, however, that they have fairly detailed privacy settings applied to who can see your profile/pictures/ etc. But again, you have to click around and set up everything. Hell, just to register I thought was a bit much.

A bit of background if you are not on it, or have only heard of it: IT IS MACO CENTRAL! So you go and set up your profile listing whatever personal info you want to be posted including a picture, you have the option to join networks which revolve around your school or job or where you live. You can join multiple networks

Maco opportunity #1: even if is not yuh friend, yuh could see all these people around by you who on de same network.

Then you start adding "friends", you can do it by automatically (facebook does it for u) inviting people who are in your email address book. Then you get to see who belongs (macoing) and choose which ones you want to invite. And voila! you build a friend list as these people reply.

Maco opportunity #2: yuh could click on yuh friend profile and see all who dey is friend with. AND click yuh friend friend too, and yuh friend friend friend once dey in a network you in.

Alright so those things may have taken a bit of exploring, let's move on to some built-in stuff, things they put right in front of your face (why its called facebook right?) The first thing you see when you sign in is what they call a "news feed". Its a chronology of happenings on your account AND YOUR FRIENDS' accounts, including their new friends, if they deleted friends, messages everybody wrote on each others' "walls", and what they are doing (if they chose to update that bit)

Maco opportunity #3: dat one was self-explanatory, ah mean..."news feed"? MACO FEED!. An all yuh had to do was sign in.

Moving on... you click on "my profile" and you see the details that pertain only to you i.e. your picture and other personal info, who you "became friends with", and all the stuff people wrote to you, and if you were "tagged" in any pictures that you or others may have in their accounts.

Maco opportunity #4: yuh could see all dat fuh other people too includin all dey messages doh matter if you eh know all de writers. (a nex network trap)

I'll add one more although there's lots of little things that add up, I have 2 in mind but I'll go with the pictures since they can be so damning. I mentioned being "tagged" above. Similar to "labels" I suppose for blogging, you can tag people by attaching their names to a photo you have uploaded. Funny thing is: you can see (via the news feed) when OTHER people (possibly complete strangers)tagged your friends, and see the picture too!

Maco opportunity #5: dat one kinda self-explanatory too. An if somebody tag you in a bad picture, well crapaud smoke yuh pipe.

There are several other ways to maco on this thing, one of which is the "social timeline". Doesn't that just have the ring of a "macoing journal"? I didn't write about it because I must have deactivated it somehow as mine was empty. It lists details you have entered over time about your friends, AND AS PER USUAL, you can also access your friends' or other people on your network.

They say its a good way to "share", to "keep in touch", to see whats going on in your friends' lives, and thats where it starts going downhill: too many prying eyes.

So there you have it! High speed! Efficient! Far-reaching! If you are a maco, facebook is the thing for you! What are you waiting for?! Join now!!!!!

till nex time...

p.s. if you are NOT a maco, and a more private type, make sure you go through and select all the "my friends only" that you can find ;-)