Let me set the scene: it’s Saturday night, it’s 3am, and you’re feeling all seven of those “non-alcoholic” drinks that somehow ended up in your hand at Toad’s. After you capture your wallet in a particularly intense game of hide-and-seek, you finally manage to beep into Old Campus. As you walk briskly—nay, stumble—back to your room, you notice something absurd. A hallucination? An inebriated illusion?? A dream??? No, no—just another Yalie who's had One Too Many.

Welcome to the “One Too Many” blog where similar experiences are not only solidified (forever!) on the Internet, but they are also analyzed in order to determine why these sightings are actually considered funny in American culture.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

A Facebook Joke: Why, When, and How

Report: There was a clog in the One Too Many factory; as a result, entries are coming in rapid fire! I hope that you’re as excited as I am.

The mission of One Too Many has been to capture humor surrounding Yale students’ social lives. However, to disregard the comedy that surrounds Facebook, a virtual world full of humor, would be doing you dedicated readers out there a great disservice. I will take a look at how wit, timing, simplicity, and flirtation are fundamental in developing humor on Facebook. Given the excessive amounts of time students spend on their computers, Facebook provides an ideal forum for college humor.

Facebook has developed from a simple means of communication to a cyber social network. With this transition has come more room for jokes, mocks, insults, and flirtation. The key to cracking a successful joke online, however, requires different standards than that of a joke in a face-to-face conversation. Most importantly, any joke online must be concise and full of wit; anything beyond a few sentences works against the goals of Facebook communication. Almost as important as the wit is the timing of the joke. If a joke is initiated—perhaps with a wall post or photo comment—too quickly after the event discussed or the picture posted, it can viewed as a bit odd, as you probably spend too much time on Facebook. Conversely, if a joke is made too long after the post, it often loses significance. There is always a sweet spot with timing, and this is definitely no exception. In addition to timing, simplicity is essential. The funniest jokes on Facebook are often the shortest or address the simplest issues; long, drawn out jokes don’t really have a place in the quick cyber world. Lastly, jokes on Facebook play a crucial role in online flirtation. All jokes and comments online stem from a deeper desire to essentially play with another person. In most cases, this happens with the opposite sex. For those less witty, or perhaps less courageous, an option even exists to virtually “poke” a friend. When all of these aspects come together and form one amusing Facebook joke, our online world is improved for the better.
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