Thanks for the ice cream!

As much as I love facebook, I get confused by some of the notifications. You know the ones:
"Gary sends you good kharma."

"Mary sent you a Jager Bomb."

"Malcolm has prepared an ice cream sundae for you."

What does it mean? How am I supposed to react? I love ice cream sundaes and Jager bombs (I don't love Jager bombs), but a virtual one doesn't do much for me.

Part of the appeal of a social networking site is that I don't have to buy people drinks as if we were at a bar. And does it really have to cost ten cents to send someone good karma? Capitalizing on karma brings bad karma, I think.

Perhaps we need some negative notifications.

"Eugenia sent you a flaming bag of dog excrement."

"Barry has given you herpes."

"Jeff has sent you his kidney, but he doesn't expect you to reply in kind. That's just the kind of person you are."

There could be lots of money in letting people be virtual bastards, martyrs, or guilt-mongers. Think of it as a chance to make some money doing the things you do in person for free.