Rapid Facebooking - A game beyond your imaginations!!

DEDICATED TO  'LIKE VERIYARGAL'

*Strictly for people who are absolutely jobless and seek for entertainment in Facebook

Imagine a game in your FB profile

• which could  harness electricity from LIKE button ( helpful for people in Tamil Nadu). 
• floods your monitor with notifications that you need to delete them before you could even reply. 
• is a survival test for your keyboard, mouse and RAM.

Welcome to the world of Rapid Facebooking.
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How it all started?

It was 9th July 2011, 1:30 AM, when I found just 3-4 friends online. Holidays, no sleep and desperate to kill my boredom, I started a random wall post on my friend's profile which also invited a mutual friend into this convo.  We were all making fun of each other and so started liking each others comments and  replied instantly in full flow.  Three others joined the party having noticed what was going on and they adhered to the trend of liking others comments before commenting. With 6 of us, the comments rose in no time with LIKES decorated everywhere. About two hours passed and we realized we had written about 600 comments with 5 likes in each comment.

All of a sudden we created entertainment out of nothing.

We were fascinated by the speed at which everything was going on . So we began tagging people who were asleep with a notion that  next day, they  had to search for their tag under the rubble of comments we were generating. I thought there could be much more to this game and so gave the title 'Rapid Facebooking'

Rule was simple: To comment/Reply as fast as possible and LIKE everyone Else's comment without 'Self - Liking'.

That morning, 12-15 people chipped in and LIKE buttons were crying for help. The whole screen looked like stock market exchange with numbers fluctuating rapidly from top to bottom. Notifications blocked the space provided for commenting and eventually everyone had to delete them one by one. The more we deleted,  newer ones replaced them, forming a TSUNAMI of notifications. 

Advantages of this GAME -

1) Team work: People in your list will first of all be wondering what the hell is going on in your profile. With the amount of Likes and comments generated, and the chaos occurring in TICKER , people are sure to participate. Well if they don't, drag them in by just tagging them and letting them search for the tag.

2) Ethics of Liking: Also this game trains everyone to LIKE whatever, whichever, whenever and wherever posted in Facebook. Basically we spread Love through LIKE. So guys can stop worrying about their statuses performing poorly. 

3) Concentration and Reflexes: The game required high levels of concentration and reflexes to track the self-liker. Say 5 of us are playing, then each comment should have 4 likes because we shouldn't Like our own comment. (In general n-1 LIKES for  n people playing). But due to the high speed of the game, and the  adrenaline pumping, some people tend to LIKE whatever they see which could be their own comment too, and so a particular comment appears has higher likes than the rest. If someone is spotted self liking, they will be subjected to Marana Kalaai which again depends on the set of people playing.

4) Fair Play: The game doesn't need any spam to get high comments. By spamming I mean, posting alphabets and numbers as single comments. Just a normal conversation among friends would be suitable enough to start the game successfully. Probably interesting topic like Cricket or Movies would be a great choice for starters. Milestone comments can be reached in no time. 

Disadvantages -

1) Play only when Free: The game is very very very addictive. Do not waste time and play only when you are absolutely vetti. Also you need to find right set of people to initiate the game. Note that tagging hyper sensitive and short tempered people, thinking it is fun could lead to vera level conversations involving use of expletives. (although that is one way of increasing entertainment)

2)  Privacy settings loophole: Say you have set your privacy to ONLY FRIENDS. So if a friend of yours tags his set of friends in this post, that person receives hella lot of notifications but cant even see, because of your wall privacy :D.

Few tips -

When you begin the game for the first time,  identify the interested people and  find out who is talented in which field. Some have fast internet connection  and can LIKE like MAD. Some can type fast but LIKE other's comments slowly. Some are good in 'on the spot comedy' or narrating few comedians' dialogues. Some are  sensitive. So classify them and ensure you have this winning combination at all times. The next day when the game resumes, start off  by taking attendance. This is done by tagging people whoever contributed the previous day and others who are online at that time and those you find they might be interested.

Here's  a screen shot of how it  looks when this game was played. (Figure 1)

Figure 1: How the screen looks when Rapid Facebooking is at its prime.

In the 2nd pic which is below, You can see Anitha tagged with comments above and below her tag. It took her an entire day to find out where her name was.

Figure 2: Tagging and Thomsam

So enjoy the game and have fun. Feel free to join us for a quick demo. Don't misuse this gift from Facebook. Ultimately its just for passing time and not hurting people. Happy Rapid Facebooking.. Cheers.

The story of my experiments with LIKE

Sincere thanks to all my Co-likers and special mention to the 'LIKE VERIYANS' who made this NOTE possible!!

The ‘Thumbs up’ symbol or the LIKE in Facebook is not just a button but a way of life, an occupation for “omnipresent” ppl like me. A LIKE, can be called as the free hug of Facebook (FB), as it doesn’t cost a penny but makes the beneficiary feel good. No wonder every page in FB needs to be "LIKED" before proceeding further.

My journey in FB started off by exploring what it had to offer and how it differed from Orkut. The ‘LIKE’ was one of the few features that hogged my attention immediately. Gradually, I observed that in Facebook, wherever fun happened the ‘LIKE’ always complemented it. This was when I started pursuing studies in Likeology- The study of Likes, to get a Bachelor’s degree in Facebook Engineering :P

I have classified my studies into 2 categories, the struggle and the secret for success. In the ‘struggle part’ I have tried to elucidate the common problems, for statuses being deprived of LIKES. On the other part I have listed few solutions that could hopefully boost the LIKE rate.

Struggle

In the early days of my "Facebooking career"  when LIKE was awarded only for statuses, I had no complaints. It was a customary practice for people to LIKE gud statuses and leave a decent comment complimenting it. But then came the ‘LIKE SLIDE’. With the advancement of LIKE option for comments, the trend changed from friends “Just Liking” to Liking the status and trying to key in those “LIKE fetching” comments. As gurunaadhar Vadivelu  once said “Panga podu maapla panga podu”, the LIKEs meant for status started to get distributed between a good status and an even better 1st comment.

In order to post a decent status i.e. garnering at least 1/20th of likes from your friends’ circle (35 likes from 700 friends) there are lots of factors to be considered, the chief one being “The first comment”. They are so powerful tat they play the role of a DISLIKE button :D

In case you feel the status could be ruined by the 1st comment, do not retaliate by being harsh on them. This pulls down the chances of getting LIKES from such people in the future. Keep your cool and retort in a friendly manner so that the person becomes a ‘life member’ in your profile :P. On the flip side one can also think of letting people ruin the statuses, there by encouraging more friends to participate. This is how the group called “LIKE VERIYANS” emerged in my profile :D

Ever since this group emerged, they broke my FB wall and built a party hall. Friends came, shared posts, tagged people, got likes and finally signed out. My friends circle started sending requests within themselves, thus forming an ARMY OF LIKE VERIYANS .

The next important factor is thinking twice before posting a forward as your status. This is a double edged sword as it can make you an overnight hero or an outstanding zero. Remember to “always have the courtesy to put courtesy” in case of using forwards. By doing so at least 1st comments such as “Courtesy enga da nayae?”, “Yaarkittendhu sutta” , “Idha nee sondhama yoschiya?” etc can be prevented :D. However, good forwards from female friends insure us from courtesy threats :P . An example of one such status “Dear Mother-in-law, don’t teach me how to handle my children. I am living with one of urs and he needs a lot of improvement”!. These also make the female friends in your circle LIKE your statuses :P .

P.S – Posting own statuses are always the best and risk free, but mokka vaangina….? Better luck next time.

Posting a status at the right moment is also a vital factor for deciding the LIKE trend.  When one gets deprived of likes, status after status, it is better for him to be resilient and post a LIKE potential status when his “Status Destroyers” are offline :D. Sometimes going offline as soon as you post a status, increases the chance of getting likes. Since the ‘target’ (person updating status) is offline, the status destroyers MIGHT have a soft corner and not punish you :P


The secrets for success

Getting off the mark in this LIKE venture is not as easy as it sounds. Yet, by befriending “Professional Likers” such as myself , you are ensured of LIKES irrespective of status and comments u post :P . Remember that ‘Likers’ around us constantly change. Some leave for jobs, some for pursuing Masters, college re opens for some and rest are like me :P. So maintaining a healthy ‘LIKE Rate’ in all circumstances becomes a challenge. The ‘Professional Likers’ take care of this too :P.  Hence it is important to identify such people in your circle.

Giving updates whenever super hit movies are aired and posting dialogues from famous comedy scenes are super effective. Also updating crucial instances in IPL, important tennis grandslam matches or any other sport that people follow are always consecrated with LIKES. These statuses instantly grab the attention of the people and get noticed by a larger section. Enacting programs such as ‘Niiya Nana’ selecting a hilarious topic are also actively participated by friends. Tagging great Icons whenever they appear on television channels is also a very good technique . Eg @Rahman interview in NDTV. @Karthik singer, awesome singing in Vijay tv. Friends who are ardent fans of such icons tend to like these kind of statuses :D

At times, the ‘via’ gra rule i.e. sharing someone’s noteworthy status by tagging their name is an essential component for encouraging people and gaining  ‘EXTRA’ likes as the rule name suggests :P . “Tag today, Get tagged tomorrow” is the mantra to be followed if the statuses are to reach new heights and for you to get acquainted to new people.

Never try to outwit your friends in your own profile especially in the initial stages of your LIKE venture. Target others’ status to show how witty or sarcastic you are. Try gaining LIKEs for your comments. Constantly doing so makes people notice you. This can also be an alternate way to get to know friends of friends.

The Caring and Sharing technique: Make sure you grant likes for your friends’ statuses and care for their profile too (Give and take policy). This is useful when extreme ‘LIKE drought’ condition prevails :P

The Study has also been extended to the Video links and Photos shared. It was found that Gud videos within 1 minute duration fared well in getting likes. Durations from 1- 3 minutes depends on the content of the video. Videos over 3 minutes need a really good caption to survive :P . Funny Photos shared or those portraying sarcasm are everyone's favorite. So if statuses are not working your way, shift to the youtube mode :P.

To conclude, I have realised that "LIKE" is a never ending topic and I am still exploring the trend of likes on a daily basis. These are some of my experiences after clicking the sign in button of Facebook.

P.S -  Idhukku "LIKE" podama poravan "ratthan gakki chaavan!!"...:D