What does "update my facebook status" mean? How do you do that? And why?

[.]

I don't have a facebook and when I've browsed accounts I never see a "facebook status". I was wondering what that is and why people do that? Also do you have a drop down box where you pick & choose or can you just type in any nonsense?

And what does the status do in relation to facebook/others etc? I only seen myspace (sux) & Twitter and they don't have no status to update.

Also I heard that when Michael Jackson died people had RIP MJ as status. I can't believe that was preprogrammed in a drop box so how does it work & why is it necessary.

Sorry for my ignorance but if you tell me then I will know, thanks! =)

Thanks.
Thanks John. Much appreciated. I'll give you BA as soon as I can pick it!

[john]

Facebook statuses are for people that want to share their thoughts with others. Once you have a Facebook account, go to your profile and type in something for your status where it says 'Update Status'. Then click 'Update Status'. You also have to have a Facebook account to view your friend's statuses. And i don't think Facebook has a drop-down box for recommendations. Facebook statuses are different from Myspace because with Facebook the status goes into a centralized feed. Myspace has different feeds, one for status, bulletins, etc. Twitter primarily is just for statuses, it doesn't have an 'update status' button. I don't know much about the Michael Jackson question and sorry if i missed out on answering anything.

Cheers,
John