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            If creativity is the spice of life, then facebook.com is the cookbook.

            What would drive a sane mind to make such a statement? Take a look at the website. If you have any friends, you will eventually see one of the following:

                        -an invitation to join a group reclaiming lost phone numbers.

                        -an invitation to join a group for a specific television show.

                        -an invitation to join a group “One Million Strong” for something.

                        -sepia tone photographs.

                        -applications that measure your genius.

                        -applications that “hatch eggs”.

                        -applications that allow you to draw on someone’s wall

            The list goes on forever. I haven’t even scraped the surface of what exists on facebook.com. My roommates were previously addicted to a game that was basically a MMORD (Massively Multiplayer Online Recruitment Drive). They would spend hours capturing other people and building reinforcements. Instead of just posting a picture of oneself anymore, people are spending the time posing and editing their photos so they look like they may have been taken in a different era or by a professional photographer. In some cases, they view themselves as models, throwing themselves out into the facebook.com community for the optical delight of friends and users alike. Requests to reclaim lost phone numbers are now pleas to feed or donate to new phones.

            The point being this: someone had to think of this. Not only that, but the original thoughts inspire others to make their own interpretation. Just like cookbooks teach people to cook, facebook.com is teaching people to be creative. Granted, the ability to grill a burger doesn’t make someone Wolfgang Puck. Taking a black and white photograph, or creating the “Super Hatching Intelligence TV” application doesn’t make anyone a creative genius. If anything, it takes these standards and lowers their legitimacy by making it passé.

            At this point, you may expect me to beg people to stop imitation. Yes, I advocate creativity and originality above all else, but facebook.com is really a great tool for an artist. It acts as a BS Detector. If everyone else is already doing it, then it is not genuinely creative. Never before have creative minds had such an easy reference to determine the validity of their work.

            To wrap this up, next time you receive an invitation to join the “Creative Underground’s Local Troupe”, thank facebook.com for disseminating creativity and ascending true artists.