Facebook Status Update Numbers Spread like Wildfire...What Is the Meaning?

Facebook statuses containing numbers are popping up all over tonight and many are wondering what the meaning is of these status updates containing random numbers?

Less than a week after cartoon characters began appearing on Facebook profile pictures, the new Facebook craze appears to a be numbers, followed by a cryptic description of some sort.

What in the world is going on with these Facebook status updates, and picture updates, that seem to be increasing infrequency and, candidly, vagueness, all the time?

Earlier this year, women were suddenly posting colors in their Facebook statuses. To the uninitiated, it was a puzzling development. Why would anybody post a seemingly random color, such as "red" or "pink" or "white" on their Facebook status? It turns out that through a grassroots effort, women were posting the color of their bras on Facebook in order to raise awareness for breast cancer. It was seen as a fun and easy way to raise awareness for an important cause.

Later in the year, in October, status updates began to appear that seemed to be sexually charged in nature. Women on Facebook were posting where they liked "it". Statuses would declare that a given Facebook member "liked it on the floor", or "liked it on the kitchen table", or "liked it on the couch". In fact, the status updates were not actually sexual in nature, but women were stating where they put their handbags or purses when arriving at home. Again, this was to raise awareness for breast cancer as October was Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Last week, the aforementioned Facebook craze involved Facebook members changing their profile pictures to a cartoon character of their youth. Cartoon characters from the 1970's, 1980's and 1990's were replacing more typical profile pictures. This effort, again a grassroots one, was designed to raise awareness for child abuse.

The latest Facebook craze seems to be numbers. Status updates are including numbers of all different lengths. While there is no apparent good cause that this Facebook status numbers craze is supporting, it is quickly spreading; quite likely among the younger users of Facebook.

It seems Facebook members are sending their Facebook friends a number and asking their friends to issue a status update describing, in one or two words, what they think of their friends. They then use the number to 'tag' the description in the update. So status updates are including a number along with some sort of adjective. It becomes sort of an inside joke, perhaps, between the Facebook status owner and the friend who sent them the number to begin with.

Is there too much time on Facebook participants' hands? Perhaps -- particularly those Facebook members participating in this particular game, which seems to support no important cause. But then, in this time of a bad economy and global uncertainty, maybe the Facebook status number game is just some harmless and affordable fun.

Source:

http://blogs.babble.com/famecrawler/2010/12/07/numbers-on-facebook-status-facebook-number-game-next-cartoon-hoax-craze/