If MySpace is (was?) a place for friends, then Facebook is a place for scoping out your friends’ hot friends.
Some seventy percent of all social networking activity amounts to viewing pictures (so stop updating your status all the time!), writes Amanda Marcotte as she explains the habit of straight guys using their friend lists to spy photos of cute girls in bikinis — photos that are standard for sharing among friends, but turn into PG porn for men blessed with too much free time. And while Marcotte doesn’t venture into the voyeuristic habits of gay men and women trolling their friends’ spring break albums for six packs and boobies, we’d argue that we’re just as likely to be turning Facebook into a work-friendly XTube.
What’s so appealing about Facebook to use the site for peeping? Besides it being a page that’s more socially acceptable to bookmark than hardcore skin sites?
For one, you can be almost 100 percent certain the bare torsos you’re viewing belong to real people — which isn’t to say porn stars aren’t people too, but there’s a reason even porn consumers are gravitating toward amateur smut. For another, if you are viewing your friends’ friends’ photos, that means these people are just a couple degrees away from you socially, and it might be easier to arrange a real-life encounter with that bubble butt or hairy chest.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
So fess up, Queerties: How often are you clicking on Facebook to sneak a peek of a friend’s impromptu hot tub photo shoot?
CultureBear
Who doesn’t see a hot photo on a friend’s friend list and request the guy hoping he’ll say yes just so you can see more photos of him? Happens all the time.
Tangelo
All the time! Especially since I am a straight guy fetishist and they are more likely to post something cute, funny, real and bare chested/in boxers.
🙂
Luke
Is it bad that I alt tabbed into this window while doing this exact thing…
richard
PG?! That is an understatement…my friend is on facebook with over 4000 friends from Farmville n these “friends” from Europe n South America are all hard core porn pics of themselves…i dont think Facebook polices themselve enough
Ken S
I confess, sometimes if I see a friend post a picture with some other (hot) friend of theirs in it, I’ll click that shapely stranger to see if their other pictures are accessible to non-friends. But I kinda’ draw a line at requesting to add strangers to my friends list just so I can creep on their friends-only pictures. It just seems tacky, and I can’t imagine that they’re so clueless that they don’t know exactly what’s going on 😛
CaliberGuy
Who has not seen a cute guy in a friends pic and clicked on that person profile to see if they allow non friends to see their photos? Although I too draw the line at friend requesting strangers just to look at their pics, it’s tacky and your not really fooling any one at all.
declanto
FB ediquette? How droll and 21st cent. Oh, Brave New World! and all the brave new bubblebutts/hairychests within it! I’m lovin’ it!
Moo
See that facebook ‘like’ widget at the top of this page? If you’re logged into facebook, then facebook knows you’ve just viewed this page (and will use this information to work out the best ads to show you).