Wednesday 30 November 2016

Facebook

When my phone was stolen in September and, after I got it back, I realised someone had signed into the phone. It was not the thief but maybe a middle person who had bought it or is in the business of buying stolen phones and, selling them onwards. The phone was recovered from behind the South Beach prison by the police. 

A few weeks later, we had a break in and, the thief was apprehended same day and, the picture we had of the thief was not the same as the fellow who had signed into my phone. 

When I got my phone back and realised someone else had signed into Facebook on my phone, I had a lot of fun with this fellow's Facebook account. I would frequently update this person's Facebook status and, write things like "Why did God make a phone thief? Why?" while drinking beers at Royal Hotel. Or, I would compliment all the women on his Newsfeed and ask them to marry him. The funniest thing is that someone would Like it or not really catch on at all. 

Honestly, I didn't feel much guilt for going through this person's Newsfeed or by posting embarrassing updates. 

After some time, I would see the Newsfeed as a very interesting and fascinating place to see how the Liberian folks use social media. 

There are so many selfies and pictures of folks just posing. They are going to school or to the office and, stylishly pose for a series of pictures. There are selfies of folks in taxis on their way to work.

Some of the selfies are quite orchestrated and, manufactured. The auto photographers have taken time to think about light, angles and, how good they look. Sometimes the selfies are what people think selfies are supposed to be about: pouting your lips. Sometimes, you notice folks are not even smiling and taking a selfie with pouting lips. There are also selfies made in a very unflattering angle, the camera right below the chin with no regard for light. It feels like we the viewers are crouching on the ground looking up at very unsightly faces.

The captions too are interesting: thanking God Almighty or sweet Jesus for another day or affirming belief that Jesus has something good in store for them. There are captions that praise one own's beauty i.e. #PRETTY_ME_ALWAYs_CUTE#. There are photographs of folks celebrating a good Church Servie. 

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