Fascinating. And Creepy.

The night before last, Alex texted to ask about a picture of me.

"Which picture?" I asked.

"On FB," he said.

"But which one?"

"The one you just commented on."

When Facebook unveiled its new "instant feed" at the top of all of our home pages a couple of months back, there was much complaining and protest that this was an invasion of privacy.  Which, of course, it was.

I'm one of those people who is permanently "offline" on Facebook, but since the instant feed went live, there's no question as to when I am or am not online.  Every time I "like" a picture or post a comment or accept a friend request it's broadcast to my entire friends list.  And there is absolutely nothing I can do about it.

But as with all such Facebook changes, the protests died off quickly as people got used to having every move they made documented and announced...

...or was it maybe that we collectively decided that that was a price we were willing to pay as long as we were given the opportunity to spy on the online activity of other people in return?

What if we took it one step further?  What if there was a way to know not just what everyone's commented on, but who's been looking at your profile?  Would you be willing to trade that knowledge for revealing to other people those profiles you've been stalking?

We've all given up a lot of privacy for the privilege of watching other people's "likes" in real time, but personally, the thought of someone knowing I'd clicked over to their page for a quick read-through crosses a line.

About a month ago, I had what I thought was an epiphany about Facebook, and temporarily believed myself to be the bearer of useful stalking information.  But as I've observed my own activity and the activity of others over the past few weeks, I've realized that whatever I thought I was looking at has nothing on what's blatantly staring all of us in the face.

Strangely enough, the instant feed didn't bother me half as much when it was unveiled as it does now.  And that's not because of my own activity reports; it's because of the way I scroll through it and peep in on what everyone else is doing.  I'm uncomfortable with how fascinating I find it.

To be totally honest, I'm creeping myself out...