About raising "awareness" on FB

[sensuallettuce]

Just had a couple of messages about the "fun game" on FB where "men will wonder what is going on with our status updates" by writing a colour or a piece of fruit or some bollocks on our wall to "raise breast cancer awareness".

AIBU to wonder how the hell this "raises awareness" or does anything other than irritate grumpy cows people like me and the "men" probably couldn't give a shit/don't even notice. Is FB the right forum for this and is just just me that this irritates the hell out of and will while it sweeps FB over the coming weeks.

Hate cancer status updates ("put this on your status for 1 hour to say you hate cancer" well I don't fucking love it do I?! ).

Hate copy and paste updates and hate RIP pages.

Want to raise awareness do the Race for Life like I did last year or get off bloody FB.

Sorry I do like FB because I'm sad and lonely to socialise of an evening but AIBU to think this is so lame and meaningless?!

YANBU

Anyway, how do those games 'raise awareness' if you're not supposed to tell people what your status is about?

Quite!!

I never join in with them. But I guess if it gets people talking it is raising awareness, what effect that has is debatable though.

delete the idiots!!

I usually do! :D very satisfying!

The absolutely raise no awareness and just annoy people.

If you want to raise awareness, talk about the issue!

With Breast Cancer esp though - it's not like it's not high profile anyway is it?

It does raise awareness though, it's a medium like any other being used to communicate. Race For Life was widely promoted on Facebook as well.

RIP pages are very important to those concerned. If you hate them, don't look at them.

I'm not talking about someone talking about Race for Life on Facebook.

I'm talking about putting 'white' as your status. With no other information.

That raises nothing but hackles and eyebrows.

I absolutely hate that. It was rife when I was still on FB and my dad was dying of cancer, it really got to me. I can't see how it does absolutely anything to raise awareness, I'm pretty sure a LOT of people are aware of breast cancer already and are well versed on how they should check for lumps (whether or not they actually bother to do it). A cryptic status on FB that comes across more as sexual innuendo (as they were at the time of my father dying "I like it on the couch" "I like it on the dining room table" fuck the fuck off!) seems much more to me about stroking the poster's ego and enabling them to give themselves a pat on the back for "doing their part" to raise awareness, when in reality they've done next to nothing. But then I find this something of a sensitive issue as you may well be able to tell. Pfft.

If a loved one of mine died or I did I would not want an RIP page - if they want to express condolences, send a card, come to the funeral or visit - its much more respectful.

yanbu I hate them and ignore them

Still gets people talking though, Tee, at least IME

YANBU. It's f*ing annoying. My pet peeve tho has got to be people who put up pictures of babies in various stages of horrible health issues with a "facebook/or some other entity will pay a pound/a pence/ a fig for every 'like' " - GRRRRR! that gets my goat. Can you not a) see the complete idiocy behind that b) google via hoax slayer or snopes to verify before doing this?! Looking into it I read some of these were actually begun by people to traumatise family going through it - in a malicious way. FFS dont blindly forward/post everything.

yanbu

What i really hate are the posts involving graphic images of something horrible - such as animals or children that have been abused, saying 'this is disgusting' - and recently there was one with a dead baby abandoned in a skip :( which I couldn't get out of my head afterwards

I have defriended a number of people after posts like these. They claim they're 'raising awareness' but there is something prurient in it IMO

disagree about RIP pages, can't see anything wrong with them
just the silly games and status'

I agree, RIP pages are not for everyone. But it's the same principle as putting something in the local paper - people do it to share their grief. If the page helps one grieving person, isn't that better than none at all?

Just because you wouldn't get comfort in an RIP page doesn't mean others dont

I hate those messages. I actually once put a status up ranting about how I shall not be partaking in this "raising awareness for Breast Cancer" as it is a load of bollocks if you are hiding it from men. It isn't just women who suffer from it, and men need to be just as involved as women in any talks about regular checks etc.

I just think they are a bit tacky - when a young person dies for example it's like everyone needs to keep on this kind of "grief bandwagon" it happened recently at my friends DD's school.

Exactly Youve, a tiny percentage of men are diagnose with breast cancer every year too.

I'd say rather than 'hiding' the point of the statuses from men, they should be very much including them.

Or perhaps it's a way of people joining together in grief and showing the relatives how loved they were?

If you don't like them then fine don't look at them but I think to try to criticise those who find them a support is wrong.

YANBU. They get right on my wick.

Each to their own, sensual, regarding the RIP pages. Although I think it's better to provide an outlet, especially for kids, who use FB. It's often easier to express your feelings this way than in real life.

I hate FB and what really does annoy me about these "Games" are that they are sometimes sexualized for example, I recieved one the other day saying "Where do you put your bag when you get home, post i like it on the... with your answer as your status if you hate cancer and keep the boys guessing" really does annoy me!

I also hate the "This person has cancer, can we get 5000 likes?"

I think social networking, mostly FB has got way to out of hand now by that i mean it is literally everywhere!

These "Games" should be stopped and pages where you can actually donate money to organisations should be made.

It annoys the life out of me. I also hate those photos of poorly children where they say 'for every like Facebook will donate £1'. Big massive scam, and more often than not the children in the photod have already died.