I’m not one to go around telling people it’s my birthday, which is why this post is coming 40 minutes after my birthday (unless you’re on the west coast).

It was a fun experiment to see if anyone would say anything. My number one suspect for getting the word out: Facebook. At around 4 p.m. today, someone noticed. Got to love Facebook.

Or do you?

For our seminar 2 class, we’re writing a 15-page paper for which we needed to turn in an abstract today. My paper topic addresses the mixed emotions people have regarding Facebook. Here’s the abstract (mind you, this is beta, having been written before the paper, per our instructions):

With mobile devices becoming more prominent than personal computers, the social applications designed for them have great potential to impact social behavior and the emotions of those using them. Designers will need to consider the negative impacts of the products they create for this burgeoning space. This paper reflects on discoveries of coexisting positive and negative emotions related to the use of the online social networking tool, Facebook. In addition to creating a positive social community for communication and entertainment, the negative emotions associated with Facebook include feeling overwhelmed, dependent, and guilty. I argue that the unintended consequences of online social networking provide design implications for new ubiquitous social experiences using mobile devices. Designers will need to focus not only on making their mobile social products usable, useful, and desirable, but also account for the potential negative impacts of their use on social and cultural values.

Oh, I just thought of a way to contradict my first statement in this post. As I had at some previous point in time entered my birthday into Facebook, I indeed am someone who would broadcast his birthday.