The Facebook 1000

Today I added my 1,000th friend on my Facebook account. That's 999 more friends than I have in real life.

As everyone knows, Facebook is addictive and a waste of valuable time. I considered closing my account now that I have 1,000 connections, but reconsidered when I remembered that I'm in the middle of four Scrabble games and that I just never know when I'll want to discover which movies my long lost friend from 2nd grade likes.

But Facebook is a good resource and it allows us to stay in contact with many more people than we could have imagined last century or even just a few years ago. Facebook was a valuable tool for me to reach out to many Jewish students when I was working at the University of Michigan Hillel. And I am sure that Facebook will play a key role in next year's political elections. Of course, Facebook is becoming increasingly more beneficial for charitable organizations as well. AOL founder Steve Case appears to be taking Internet philanthropy to the next level with his Case Foundation's charity contest for Facebook Causes.

Facebook is definitely here to stay. And according to Bangitout.com Facebook is Jewish too:

Top Ten Signs Facebook is Jewish

10. Wall postings are something we've been doing for years at the Kotel

9. News Feeds, loshon hora made easy

8. Poking, the shomer negia way to flirt

7. $1 diamond rings!

6. Updating your status is better than your mom telling the world you are now single

5. Tagging photos brings Jewish geography back into the picture

4. Social networking; a nicer way of saying protectzia

3. Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) vs. Tom Anderson (Myspace) ... the last name says it all

2. Only colors: Kachol v' Lavan [blue and white]

1. We are the people of the Book... we just got superficial