Brushing up on my cyber-French (I know - I lead such a sexy, exciting existence!) I was amused by the verb googler to allude to the use of the popular search engine. This got me thinking…

Like millions of others, Facebook has begun to take up an inordinate amount of my time - replacing text, email and MSN as my most convenient means of social voyeurism. I began to wonder if I could create a French verb to describe the ritual when you meet someone/rediscover a blast from the past and add them as a friend.

Following the googler example, I propose the verb facebooker.

Example:

- T’as vu son ex-copine? (have you seen his ex-girlfriend?)

- Si, je viens de la facebooker (yeah, I’ve just looked her up on facebook)

But we can take this further, to account for the point when you meet someone and decide to add each other as contacts. This is a higher level of intimacy, as they can now post on your wall, tag you into photos and idly speculate when you are (once again) ‘no longer listed in a relationship’. For this, I propose a reflexive variant and a convenient solution to the pitfalls of attempting to drunkenly coordinate hand and mobile phone keypad.

- Alors, on se facebooke?

It might just catch on.