What I meant to say was . . . . . .

I don't know about you, but since I don't have all day to spend on social networking sites, I have them set to send me an email when people post on my wall or leave me a message.

The funny thing about those notifications is that they show me how many times people re-think what they post to a public forum. For even if you delete your posting- the email notification stays.

The first time it happened, I thought it was a glitch in the system- some nuance of cyberland that had a post not appear on my page. "Darn", I thought. "That was really funny", and while a personal joke, others would have laughed too.

The next time it happened- I realized that my friend had thought better of his post and retracted it for personal reasons.

So now it's a bit of a game for me for I want to know what prompts my friends to retract what it is that they had originally posted. Misspellings aside (that's almost always when I do a "do over"), for what reasons do people "un post" a post?

Did they think it wasn't funny enough? In poor taste? Too personal? In this day and age of the Internet being the way most of us keep in touch, usually what people post is what pops into their heads at the moment of reading something.

But it is here that the social media sites come under duress. For unlike a real conversation, that quip or statement is said and forgotten. But on the Internet . . .it is there forever for all the world to see.

For me, social networking sites are like today's version of parlor games. And like a parlor game, it is meant to amuse and to wile away the time. They are a way to keep in touch with the masses and to share a snapshot of what my life is like in a moment. But I never really post anything too personal, too intimate, no more than I would in reveal that about myself to a room full of strangers. For while I am connected in some way to all on my page, many of them are acquaintances, not close friends.

Maybe this is a good thing . . letting me know what my friends might say if we were live and in person, before they rethink and edit their thoughts to make them more socially acceptable. Maybe they think it's a reflection on them. Or maybe they think it will reflect poorly on me.

But whatever the reason- know that I read each and everyone of the re thought posts. For it is there that I find the true thought or essence of the thought- before our personal edit button kicks in.