Whither Friendster? Whither Facebook? Whither the next big thing?
when the rubble clears from the great friendster crash of '04, i will have nothing. ben will have nothing. none of us will have anything. no more friends. no more testimonials. no more instant self-assurance nor affirmation of life's few treasures. nothing. zero. abcess. lack. waste. enemies.
Danny Gibson wrote that testimonial for me in 2003, and ( Read more... )
Danny Gibson wrote that testimonial for me in 2003, and ( Read more... )
As far as making friends online goes, I'd say it's feasible. For instance, I met my friend Elaina on livejournal, who in turn introduced me to a friend she also met on livejournal named Laura, who I'll be marrying in June. So that's an internet success story for ya' right there.
By and large though, I'd say I do tend to lump friends online into two categories: actual friends that I happen to do most of my weekday interaction with online, and e-friends. The latter would be those who I have known for years, and would even say I know pretty well, but have never actually met in real life. Folks can cross over between each group, but for the most part they're pretty distinct categories. I can't speak for everyone, but unless I know someone well enough to really have their style of speech down, I just can't shake the feeling that the person I'm speaking to on the internet is an interchangable response that's just generated out of my computer. (And when I can, it really relies on someone's internet persona being the same as their real life personality. And doesn't that open a whole other can of worms.)
And hey, someone needs a comic artist? *jumps up and down and waves*
Reply
as for connecting to people online vs. in person, the book Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam claims that fuller human interaction can only take place in certain situations where you're not really interested--that's a terrible description on my part, but here's some examples: church is better than a porsche forum, because in the latter you only get to talk about cars, whereas in church you can talk about anything. (some people have taken issue with this, for clear reasons--can you really talk about anything in church?)
putnam isn't the only one to argue that "weak ties" are better for transmitting novel information ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weak_tie )--you know, like, you get more out of living in an apartment building with acquaintances than you would living by yourself and being in email contact with just your closest friends.
(as for whether people are the same in different environments, that's the can of worms that ate detroit.)
Reply
Tell that to the casual encounters section of Craigslist.
As far as the comic-writin' friend goes, feel free to give them my e-mail if they're interested.
Reply
Leave a comment