5 Things To Do When Facebook Crashes

Facebook's down? I need a drink...

5 Things to Do When Facebook Crashes

Facebook goes down.

Do you feel like you’ve just been banished to barren lands? Does your boss scorn your disappointment? Does the dweeb in the cube next to you say “Chill out” and then offer you his Wheat Grass Peace Shake from the Yogi Cart? Worry not, young lizard. You can still be “on Facebook” without the site being up. It’s not a geeky code hack; It’s a lifehack that will make Facebook work more efficiently for you.

Here are a 5 things that you can do while you wait that will enhance your Facebook experience and strengthen the ties that matter.

5 Things To Do When Facebook Crashes

1. Scan Your Inbox. Go to your email search bar and type in “Facebook.” If you have Facebook emails or notifications forwarded to your email address, catch up on the 1,000 messages and comment threads you’ve left to languish. If you have the sender’s email address, congratulations, you have “real” friends. Reply directly to them. Copy and paste in the original message. If you don’t have the sender’s email address, write the reply anyway. When Facebook is up again, you can copy and paste the reply into the Facebook message. Advanced: If you actually like these people, add their contact info to your address book.

2. Make Lists. No, not TO DO lists; I’m not your wife. Make friends lists. Quick, think of 5 to 10 people who interest you the most on Facebook. Got them? Write down their names. Ask yourself, do these people have anything in common? Do they share a common interest? (e.g., Hippie-Haters, Neti Pot Smashers). Consider starting a group on the common thread these people share. If you don’t want to manage a group, plan to make a List under “Friends” when Facebook comes back up. You can click on that List and see only updates from those 10 people. Advanced: Ask each of the 10 to invite one friend that shares the common interest. You’ll have a vibrant community in no time.

3. Think Romantical Thoughts. In their new book, Connected: The Surprising Power of Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives, Christakis and Fowler cite that most sexual/romantic partners come from a person’s extended network. In other words, people date friends-of-friends, and friends-of-friends-of-friends. Consider two singles you may know that don’t know each other, and construct a note to add to the “Suggest this Friend” notification you’ll send when the site is back up. If you are looking for your own “The One,” then construct a note to send to 3 not-so-close friends asking them for “Suggest a Friend” connections. Advanced: Look through the friends that your freak friends invited to the group in Step #3.

4. Prepare Photo Posts. You’ve not posted precious pictures of Fluffy Puppy for at least 5 minutes! You have 29 new pics from last night’s dog park playdate, and you know Granny is dying to see them. Pick the 3 best (yes, just 3, for the love of Dog) and place them into a new folder on your desktop called “Upload to Facebook.” Pick 3 family and 3 friends pics to share, too. Advanced: Prepare captions and tags to go with the pics.

5. Dream. Dream. Dream. Remember when you told yourself that you would run a marathon one day, or skydive, or just get up the nerve to eat the Super Crazy Hot Spiced Chicken Chapati at the Chakra Hut? Now’s the time to remember those goals. Write down 3 of these goals. For each goal, write 4 related search terms (e.g., Indian Food, Chapati, Chemicals That Can Kill You But Taste Good, Indigestion). When Facebook recovers, search for groups to join. Finding a community of like-minded dreamers will get you one step closer to achieving that dream. Or one step closer to your very first stomach pump. It’s up to you.

Let’s admit it, we’re addicted to Facebook. This is OK; Facebook keeps us from shoving health food substances up our cubicle neighbor’s ass. But let’s remember that Facebook is a powerful connection tool. Your social network, online and off, deserves your attention. Use the time away from the distracting Facebook News Feed to build and maintain true friendships and extend your real-life social network. The stronger your network, Christakis and Fowler say, the happier and healthier you’ll be.

Happy New Year, all. When it’s back up, you can find me on Facebook at http://facebook.com/christine.cavalier