By NICK DEGEL

Campus Editor

I finally broke down early this school year and joined Facebook, a social networking Web site created by boy-man-child Mark Zuckerberg in 2004 specifically for Harvard University students. 

Since it’s inception, it has been regarded by some as Myspace for adults, which may or may not be all that accurate. 

My decision to join was largely job related. I had become a staff reporter here at the Oakland Post and it was suggested to me that Facebook was a great way to contact certain student groups for writing articles. 

Slowly but surely, I was sucked into a world of instant social information.

I now knew more about people I had just met than I ever would have in a typical classroom conversation about how hard the homework was or how bad OU’s parking situation is. 

I entered a world of bumper stickers, groups, and event calendars. People were constantly inviting me to OU basketball games or other campus activities.

Later, I discovered that people could poke you, head butt you or dropkick you. 

I woke up one morning to find that someone had anonymously gifted me a pair of panties. 

Is this person implying that they think I am a delicate little flower and should be wearing them? Was it the cute girl who sat in the corner of the classroom offering a gift of attraction? Who knows?

Remember, we’re talking about the Internet. You never know if the person on the other side of the screen is a beautiful woman or a lonely, confused old man. 

When did I go from politely networking to taking part in some perverted video game? 

What is most surprising, as is with Myspace, is the number of people posting self-portraits of a sexually suggestive nature. 

Even blatant examples of underage drinking or illegal drug use are posted for all to see.

Do these people not realize how easy it is to find someone on Facebook? 

Try explaining that innocent little JPEG to your future boss.

“Yes, sir, I do know what that looks like.”

“No, sir, I do not condone that type of behavior.”

“Sir, I assure you that none of the animals involved in the photo were harmed.”

How about a Facebook group called “I lost my job and my health insurance because of my New Year’s Eve photo album on Facebook?” 

What truly boggles my mind, however, are the Facebook groups devoted to a certain cause. They come in the form of “1 million strong against the Iraq War” or “Join this group to find the cure for (your disease here).” 

There is really nothing wrong with showing your Facebook friends that you support stem cell research or that you are appalled by what is happening in western Sudan. 

The problem is when that is the extent of a person’s “awareness.”

In the 1960s, a protest involved taking over college administration buildings or traveling to Washington to try to lift the Pentagon off the ground with a circle of flower power, an idea that was undoubtedly inspired by copious amounts of LSD. 

At face value these seem pretty ridiculous, but once the government realized that bouncing a few nightsticks off the top of hippies’ noggins would not curtail the protests, they were forced to address the anti-Vietnam sentiments of the nation.