A short time ago Sneak deactivated his Facebook account. There were a few complications with errant pokes and restraining orders which made it quite difficult to continue. No, not really, it was more a combination of social experiment and plain old fatigue. Sneak remembers the good days, when every new update, every friend request, every hug, kiss and bitchslap was a joy. But now, getting tens of emails a day informing that a minor acquaintance has just ordered a Chinese takeaway and is looking forward to a quiet night in front of the telly, is just plain irritating.

And thank the lord, it seems the rest of the UK might well be following Sneak into FB suicide. According to analyst Nielsen Online, there was a five per cent decline in unique visitors to the site from December to January. Maybe soon IT managers’ worries about communicating and enforcing internet usage policies at work will be a thing of the past. Or maybe not; there's always something better to be doing at work than work, and as Facebook wanes, a new and terrifying internet phenomenon will no doubt take its place.

23 Feb 2008