People are strange when you're a stranger

SuperCool roommate is encouraging me to set up a mySpace account, and frankly I'm on the fence as to its merits. I've already established a blog in which I rarely find time to post - New Year's resolution be damned! At roommate's urging I also acquired a profile on Facebook, at the same time securing a spot as one of the least-recent graduates in said listings. Do I really need something else that I need to periodically log into and update?

See, the Facebook is like video crack. There, I said it, and it's true. I dare you to create a profile and NOT spend hours on end looking up old friends and reading their profiles, viewing their photos, and perusing their friend lists to find still more old friends.

Making matters even more complicated for me is that fact that my alma mater refuses to reinstate my e-mail account, forcing me to list myself instead as an alum of my graduate school. See, the Facebook doesn't like it when you search for people who aren't a) from your listed school or b) in your current geography. So, shameless as I am, I've taken to friend-stealing.

Friend-stealing kind of calls to mind what we in college used to call "hijacking". Hijacking is what occurs when you introduce an acquaintance to your good friend, only to have said acquaintance completely latch on to your good friend and more or less disregard you as a result. Now that's not to say that I'm picking up friends just for accumulation's sake - I really do adore all of the friends I've rediscovered! But it's essentially the same concept...I feel bad about it, but it has to be done.

And so I hesitate to set up a mySpace page, lest I find myself going through the exact same troubles of "friending" the same people in a new medium. Is mySpace anything more than a glorified personals service anyway?