There’s a fascinating piece on the NYTimes about teenagers creating fictional personas on Facebook:

One predominant fictional argot of Facebook for teenagers would be breathlessness or emphatic speech. Their pages are peppered with “Okkkkayyyyy” and” HAHAHAHA. “ and “OMG!!!!!” You can find polite little girls cursing like sailors on Facebook. Everything is louder, more ardent, capitalized. This is a way of dramatizing or raising the stakes on even the most inane or banal exchange: You don’t just look cute. You look soooooooooooooo cute!!!!!!! For every piece of idle communication it is as if you are stranded on a desert island, waving your arms and jumping up and down to get the attention of a passing plane.

Related thought: I’ve seen a marked correlation between the death of blogging amongst my friends and the uptick of Facebook-y personal expression. They’re more likely to post a status update than they are to blog. I like blogs. I’m not sure if this change is a good thing.