facebook junkie

By now you’ve undoubtedly been tagged at least once for that “25 Random Things About Me” Facebook note that has spread across the social networking sphere like some kind of self-revelatory virus. Love it or hate it, its rapid proliferation is unprecedented in social networking’s young history — Facebook reports that nearly 5 million notes were created by its users during the week of January 26 through February 2, which was more than double the amount from the previous week and more than any other week in the company’s history.

But still, no one seems to be able to get to the bottom of who actually started it, or why Facebook users are suddenly so enamored with this particular means of sharing both intensely personal and highly mundane details about themselves with hundreds of friends and acquaintances in their news feeds. “We don’t have specific data on the types of Notes users are creating, but we think this growth has a strong correlation to the sharing of the 25 Random Things About Me Note,” wrote Facebook spokeswoman Brandee Barker in an email message. “Other types of content, like photos or news stories, have spread rapidly and widely on Facebook, but this is the first time I’ve noticed a Note gain such distribution.”

Complete story here.