Numbers In Facebook Status Updates Part Of New Online Game

Wondering what's up with all the numbers on Facebook? You're not alone.

Last week, users were replacing their profile pictures with images of cartoon characters. This week, it seems Facebook users are participating en masse in a new interactive online game.

The idea is simple: send a Facebook friend a number, then they'll write back in a status message that inclues that number what they really think of you.

As The Number Game explains on its Facebook page, " Facebook users can ask their friends what they think about them by supplying them with a number. The friend then gives the answer, and attaches the number to their answer for identification purposes."

One user shared the rules for the "number game" in a status update, writing, "New facebook game! Send me three random numbers to my inbox and I'll tell you what I think about you in my status without saying your name."

The Wire offers a slightly different explanation:

Facebook user posts a number on his or her status and then friends of that person posts whatever first comes to mind after seeing the number. Some top numbers for this version of the numbers on Facebook status game are 1, 7, 21, 69 and 420, probably because of their popular associations.

Have you participated? What do you think of the latest Facebook trend? Weigh in below.

Comments

[brazenliberal]

07:45 PM on 12/11/2010

Betty White was right!

[General Armchair]

04:50 PM on 12/10/2010

Here's something more interesting you can do with your Facebook page.

Type "wikileaks" in the "Search" box at the top of your Facebook page. Choose the first link, to WikiLeaks official Facebook page. Click "Like" to add your name to the over 1.2 million Facebook users who "Like" WikiLeaks. You will then receive WikiLeaks Newsfeeds, and stay up to date on the cyberwar our government and big corporations are waging on free speech on the internet. Post what you find interesting on your status updates. Urge your friends to do the same as you have. Post on their Walls. Spread the word.

HuffPost is "The Internet Newspaper." What happens to WikiLeaks will affect us all. Please help support Julian Assange and WikiLeaks. Thank you.

(In order keep this post from being completely off-topic, smile, here are some Facebook numbers for you: As of 4:48 pm ET Friday, there were 1,228,806 Facebook users who "Liked" WikiLeaks.)

[DisgruntledYouth]

10:59 AM on 12/10/2010

it's annoying and sad.
are people that desperate for validation and/or praise? Geez.

[Gunfighter]

09:49 AM on 12/10/2010

I was wondering what that was all about.

Not interested.

[brownfrown]

09:12 AM on 12/10/2010

I lost The Game
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game_(mind_game)

[Will Lindsay]

01:49 AM on 12/11/2010

I did not know about the game, but now I do and have lost it at least 6 times since. I also told my wife and now she has lost too. (now 7 times for me, no 8, no 9, no...ahhh!!!!!)

[JAL12]

09:09 AM on 12/10/2010

More FB nonsense. I don't care what people think about me. So there.

[PTAOfficerforObama]

09:03 AM on 12/10/2010

I saw this and thought it was stupid. I also did not become a cartoon character.

[Hansy Peguero]

09:01 AM on 12/10/2010

I participated in the cartoon game which was not only cool but for a good cause. I actually had a great time with that one.

[JtownesquireAgain]

08:46 AM on 12/10/2010

Every stupid little thing that happens is not a "Facebook Trend". It's yet another example of the limited intellectual capacity of people. Anyone who feels the need to be on Facebook and playing these silly little "games" is just another cog in the destruction machine of this society.

Read a book, volunteer somewhere, do something productive with your lives.

[Tony Zebrowski]

09:56 AM on 12/10/2010

How do I break it to you? Because you read this article and commented, another crack baby died of AIDS.

You know what's a great example of limited intellectual capacity? Pointing out the (perceived) limited intellectual capacity of others.

Still feeling great about yourself, smugaleupagus?

[Colleen Myers]

10:07 AM on 12/10/2010

Oh geeze! LIGHTEN UP!! Not every waking moment of our lives needs to be dedicated to being productive! People can still be productive and find time to have some entertaining fun. Nobody on Facebook is destroying society, you are taking it all to seriously.

[stuck-in-paris]

08:25 AM on 12/10/2010

so lame

[ThePenArtist]

07:32 AM on 12/10/2010

I really can't fathom why some people have such a problem with this. Give a number, and get kind words (or nasty words) in response. It is the social media equivalent of getting a birthday card. And who couldn't use some kind words from friends? When all you see are nasty, cranky, woke-up-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-bed updates, a few kind words you see posted is a refreshing change.

Is it a childish game? Absolutely. But you don't stop playing because you grow old - you grow old because you stop playing.

For those of you who claim facebook is a waste of time, is crap, blah blah blah, what are you still doing on there?

[Johnny in Queens]

06:43 AM on 12/10/2010

Facebook isn't a big enough waste of time by itself? Now we need to invent ways to waste time while already wasting time?

[Yikesits]

07:45 AM on 12/10/2010

like replying to posts here.

[PTAOfficerforObama]

09:04 AM on 12/10/2010

lol

[cresudek]

05:34 AM on 12/10/2010

I don't get it.

If people are going to respond with what they think of you, what is the point of the numbers?

[lulume]

09:12 AM on 12/10/2010

Anonymity.
The way i understand it, John sends a (private) message to Jane saying "125". Jane responds in a status update "125, you're a hunk of burning love" or "125, you're a jerk"
Anybody else reading the status doesn't know who 125 is

[cresudek]

09:37 AM on 12/10/2010

So what is the point of it? He'll know what she thinks of him from seeing the update. Why can't she just message him back and say what she thinks, why do they have to make it public?

[omg wtf lol bbq]

03:02 AM on 12/10/2010

Numbers 1, 2, 3, 7, 21, 30, 69, 100, 210, 311, and 420, you're all the weakest link Goodbye.

[Hamsterman]

07:17 AM on 12/10/2010

you forgot '42'

[Les Kern]

08:33 AM on 12/10/2010

nobody mentioned 58.
58 rocks.
(oh god what's happening to me?)

[DeathSquad]

02:55 AM on 12/10/2010

Do old people really need an article to understand this?