IF spending hours a day on Facebook (or, simply, The Book as my friends have taken to calling it) doesn't fulfill your craving for constant information about your friends, download one of the many Facebook related widgets.
There are a variety out there, ranging from the simple desktop-based search widget (in case you're so focused on friending that hottie from the bar last night you can't take the time to open your browser and navigating to the page) to this one, which updates constantly, letting you know as soon as you have a new message, friend request, etc.
With the unending stream of emails from The Book, the notifications, the pokes and wall post warnings, it absolutely boggles my mind that anyone would possibly feel the need to put this widget in their dashboard.
The Facebook/widget combination moves us deeper and deeper into the era of obsession: we want our information and we want it now. And now. And again now. And probably again in 20 minutes (gotta bring the laptop to class...).
I have to wonder which came first: the obsession and ADD, or the widgets and Web sites that enable us to exercise our inner stalker/procrastinator. I love that widgets can compartmentalize the information we want, pull it from a million sources and reduce it to the nuggets we need to get through the day, but I hate the compulsion they seem to drive. I know if I downloaded this widget, I would never accomplish anything. Ever.
That being said, I think the widgets for Facebook are yet another brilliant development move by Zuckerberg and the developers who use the platform. He's built a business on the fact that college students love to gossip, monitor each others' whereabouts and immortalize our drinking adventures. The widgets are just another part of selling obsession, and the perfect method to do it.
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