Facebook's 25 Random Things Chain Note Great For Blogs, Readers

I’ve been inundated this week by the viral 25 Random Things About Me chain note that’s circulating Facebook. Here’s what the note says:Â “Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you”. Every time I get tagged I usually read the list from which the tag originated.Â Some of the lists are very interesting and entertaining while others can be more self-serving and therapeutic for the writer. I’m still debating on whether I will create a list of my own and what it might contain but this article is already acting as a great catalyst for contemplating it.

So how did this craze, that is so reminiscent of the early email chain letters, get started anyway and what was the intent? That is, was it actually initiated to learn more about one’s friends or a way to gain marketing data from Facebook users? I’m betting it was a pure play with good intentions but it really opens up the opportunity for new Facebook Apps to try and bottle this lightning.

It should be interesting to see who can be the first to harness the viral power of the chain note and monetize it. It’s not the first time people have found list based applications to be useful and popular. Just take a look at 43 Things and MakeFive. I can imagine lists upon lists of new chain notes flooding the Facebook network with things like 10 Things I Love To Do That You Didn’t Know, 5 People I Admire The Most, 10 of 20 Things About Me That Are True, My 15 Favorite Foods, and the ever popular Silly Questions just to name a few.

I’m betting I’m not the only one to think this fad is silly and that it can be annoying to be tagged over and over again. However, it does encourage you to interact with your FB friends as it acts as a great conversation starter and it helps you learn a thing or two about them that you didn’t know.Â So In the spirit of it all I thought I would create my own list called 25 Random Computing Things About Me to include computing related stuff like favorite software, websites, computer, mobile apps, operating systems, etc. and take it to the web. If you would rather not participate on your blog, befriend me on Facebook and I’ll tag you there.

25 Random Computing Things About Me

Join in on the fun by making your own list!Â Make sure to link back to my list from your own blog so I can be notified via trackback to read your list too. It’s a great way to learn more about the bloggers behind your favorite blogs plus it gives them a chance to learn about readers like you. Don’t forget to pass it on, just link to your favorite bloggers somewhere within your own list or add them here like this: Aly, Eric, Jon, Pam, and Robert.

1. I love my MacBook
2. I run Parallels on my laptop
3. I use Window XP for most of my computing needs
4. I run a tech related blog called ToMuse.com
5. My new mobile phone is a T-Mobile G1
6. My RSS reader is Feedly
7. My favorite social bookmarking site is StumbleUpon
8. I use Gmail
9. I dislike Wikipedia for its poor editing and biased authors
10. My browser of choice is Firefox but may soon change to Chrome
11. My most used Firefox add-on is RoboForm
12. I get my general news from Yahoo!
13. I am a fan of WordPress
14. I’ve helped deploy 2 WP plugins and hope to release another soon
15. My favorite tech news sites are TechCrunch, Mashable, and ReadWriteWeb
16. My favorite blogging tips sites are ProBlogger, Daily Blog Tips, and Blogging Tips
17. I used to be a RememberTheMilk user but recently migrated to Gmail Tasks
18. My very first email account was via Hotmail
19. My first computing experience was with a Commodore 64
20. I often wish I had more programming knowledge and had majored in Computer Science

21. Favorite web based music player and search engine – Playlist.com
22. If you shout at me too much on Digg, I won’t be your fan/friend for very long
23. I’m excited about the possibilities of Android
24. I would like to launch a start-up someday
25. My favorite computer game will forever be the very first computer game I ever played; Oregon Trail

If you liked this article, please take this time to share it with your Facebook friends using the Facebook button (see Facebook post button to the left) or retweet it using Twitter (see retweet button to the left). You may also want to follow us or subscribe to the site to stay up-to-date with this article. If you'd rather follow us from your Facebook account, join our Facebook fan page or subscribe to our NetworkedBlogs profile.