Facebook Numbers in Status Updates: What Do They Mean?

Dec. 8) -- Facebook users: Have you noticed what appear to be arbitrarynumbers popping up in some of your friends' statuses today?

Surge Desk did too, so we hunted down the reason why.

Various websites are calling it the "Facebook numbers status game" or the "Numbers on Facebook Status Game." But here's one definition:

According to a Facebook page called "The Number Game," which more than 700 users currently "like":

The Number Game is a fun, interactive game that you can play with your Facebook friends! Here is how it works: 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.

A user's "answer" appears in a status update.

The "The Number Game" page offers a few examples:

Number sent to you: 21
Status: True friend; you've always been there and I'm grateful for our relationship!

Number sent to you: 1013
Status: I wonder why we never really talk ... you seem cool, but we just never connect :/

Number sent to you: 10
Status: You're gonna make it somewhere someday:P Keep up the good work and stay true to who you are

The site OTL says some numbers are more popular than others:

The latest Facebook fad involves a game in which the friend of one user tells their friend a number, and the person that has been told the number responds by posting whatever thoughts came to their mind after seeing the number. ... Some popular numbers have included 0,1,42,420 and 69, probably for their associated stereotypes.

This latest trend comes on the heels of a recent Facebook meme in which people changed theirprofile pictures to cartoon characters.