COMMENTARY: The Digital Clothes You Wear
The interesting thing about the Internet is that people create an online persona.
First impressions are a big deal and can mean the difference between getting Friended or Rejected.
I have my own system of measuring people.
One thing I have noticed is that when you say something online that is deviant from standard thought, people are much quicker to unfriend you because there's that level of anonymity. If it was a real life contact, we'd be a bit more cautious in whom we choose to disassociate with. However, the Internet gives us that buffer where you can. It's not like you're going to be running into that person in the future making it uncomfortable.
The world may be becoming a smaller place, but on another level, you could argue that it's getting colder.
Amusingly enough, you see the same behavior with money that people take with Friend Counts. People who don't have many friends shun those have Friends Lists in the thousands. People with Friends Lists in the thousands sometimes tend to look down upon people with less than 50 people. People who want to be like others with thousands of friends want to hook up with people who have lots of friends. Maybe it's to get noticed or because people believe that your Friends List Count defines your Friendship Value.
Then you've got those who disassociate themselves from the Social Rat Race online by making their Profiles private. The Internet is really not that different than real life. It's just Life that has been accelerated in my opinion.
You have people who have an audience who post for their readers much like how high school students who are popular maintain an image. Maybe we should just call this place "MySpace High." Our Mascot could be the Rat for that Social Rat Race I told you about.
It makes you wonder about the morals of this High School we live in if everyone's always whoring themselves out as Friends. Doesn't that kind of cheapen friendship to where the people on your Friends List may not really be your friends just like in High School where they'd drop you in an instant if you became unpopular or something bad happened or a bad rumor about you got spread around campus?
I'm not trying to be Philosophical or Deep. I'm just rambling giving me an excuse to procrastinate from work that I have to type.
First impressions are a big deal and can mean the difference between getting Friended or Rejected.
I have my own system of measuring people.
- I look at their content on their page.
- I see how long they've had a MySpace Page
- I try to see if they're just advertising and attempting to sell something
- I check if they're a band
- Are they creepy?
- What do they have posted as Titles for their Blogs
One thing I have noticed is that when you say something online that is deviant from standard thought, people are much quicker to unfriend you because there's that level of anonymity. If it was a real life contact, we'd be a bit more cautious in whom we choose to disassociate with. However, the Internet gives us that buffer where you can. It's not like you're going to be running into that person in the future making it uncomfortable.
The world may be becoming a smaller place, but on another level, you could argue that it's getting colder.
- Should we be worried if people are judged by how good of a MySpace page they have?
- Does that really say something about a person?
- Do you even really know the person you're adding to your Friends List?
Amusingly enough, you see the same behavior with money that people take with Friend Counts. People who don't have many friends shun those have Friends Lists in the thousands. People with Friends Lists in the thousands sometimes tend to look down upon people with less than 50 people. People who want to be like others with thousands of friends want to hook up with people who have lots of friends. Maybe it's to get noticed or because people believe that your Friends List Count defines your Friendship Value.
Then you've got those who disassociate themselves from the Social Rat Race online by making their Profiles private. The Internet is really not that different than real life. It's just Life that has been accelerated in my opinion.
You have people who have an audience who post for their readers much like how high school students who are popular maintain an image. Maybe we should just call this place "MySpace High." Our Mascot could be the Rat for that Social Rat Race I told you about.
It makes you wonder about the morals of this High School we live in if everyone's always whoring themselves out as Friends. Doesn't that kind of cheapen friendship to where the people on your Friends List may not really be your friends just like in High School where they'd drop you in an instant if you became unpopular or something bad happened or a bad rumor about you got spread around campus?
I'm not trying to be Philosophical or Deep. I'm just rambling giving me an excuse to procrastinate from work that I have to type.