Review: Fakebook by Dave Cicirelli

Title: Fakebook: A True Story. Based on Actual Lies
Author: Dave Cicirelli
Format: Ebook
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Publish Date: September 17, 2013
Source: I received a copy from the publisher; however, this did not affect my review.

Why You're Reading This Book:

• You're a non-fiction fan.
• You like social experiments.

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "On October 5th, 2009, Dave posted a note on Facebook announcing that he was quitting his job, dropping everything, and walking west. But what no one knew (save a few collaborators) was that Dave was lying and that his westward travels were all an elaborate hoax.

And so Dave's existence split in two--earning his followers' trust with postings about everyday activities before escalating the story with tales of teepeeing an Amish horse and buggy and thus being forced to work off his debt on the farm. Meanwhile, the real Dave went into hiding, sequestering himself in his parents' empty house and growing more and more lonely.

This humorous, thought-provoking memoir will spark discussions of our social media culture and its impact on our relationships and interactions."

My Two Cents:

Oh, Facebook. You are both wonderful and horrible in often equal doses. Facebook is great for staying connected to people. It may be horrible to admit but there's some people that I may have not stayed in contact with if it weren't for Facebook. On the other hand, it also helps to take down some walls and social graces that we'd be better off with. Facebook is a good way to get that information out in a heartbeat but should Facebook take the place of old fashioned face to face communication? In my humble (and potentially old-fashioned) opinion, no. In Fakebook, Mr. Cicirelli has some fun at the expense of his Facebook friends and creates a huge lie about what he's doing.

He lies about quitting his job and going on a cross-country journey that gets wilder and wilder with every stop he gets. He keeps it going for almost six months. Almost instantly, his friends are absolutely riveted to his every move. It's an interesting social experiment that we probably see played out on our newsfeeds every day (albeit to a much less degree than FakeDave's Fakebook experiment). Think about it: you probably have your uber- melodramatic friend who puts everything out for anyone to see (in Facebook, there are no barriers). I have a couple of those. You have other people who put really important news on Facebook before they tell the important people in their lives about their news (I've now had two really good friends announce their engagements on Facebook before letting good friends know, which is incredibly hurtful but this is Facebook, where instant gratification is both encouraged and rewarded). Dave uses this book to show how slanted Facebook can make our reality. How much do you really know about these people that you have "friended?"

Yes, this social experiment is easy but if you really thought about Facebook before, you've probably noticed a lot of the things discussed in the book so this book really doesn't cover a lot of new ground but is entertaining nonetheless.