Your Space. His Space. We All Scream For My Space.
No matter who you are or where you come from, everybody has someone or something they lost touch with. A lost love. An old high school friend. A cheesy eighties sitcom star. Whatever.
The internet is like the bridge that connects this gap. If there's something or someone you're looking for you no longer need the help of Sally Jessy Raphael to go find them. No, all you need is Google, a mouse and persistance.
A few years ago, before I started this blog, I joined an online network known as Friendster. Back then my mission was simple. I hoped to reconnect with old friends while networking with new ones. I have long wondered why it wasn't easier to meet up with people of common interests. Why it is that so many people hit a certain age and plateau and do not add any newbies into their circle of friends. I was going to break the Berlin Wall of friendship if it killed me.
Friendster allowed me to reconnect with some old friends, but mostly I was finding people I already talked to in my day to day life. No offense, but do we really need a profile online to communicate with people we just saw two hours ago? Unless of course, we all have different personas, a la Clark Kent and Superman. I'm sure a conversation with him would never be dull.
So while my Friendster profile was out in cyberspace collecting dust, someone brought to my attention the site known as My Space.
It wasn't as if I had never heard of My Space before, cause I had. I just didn't pay much attention to it. I had a Friendster space. By this time I also had this blog space. How much space does one person need to occupy anyhow?
Of course, just like with everything else, I figured if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. And so, God help me, I made like a good litttle conformist and joined the masses in the My Space march.
What happened next astounded me. My Space was like Friendster, only hotter. How did this happen? While I'm not cheerleader for Friendster, allow me to play the role of devil's advocate here. Friendster by far offers the superior interface. It looks more professional and it it doesn't move as slow as molasses either, like My Space does. They are also both free. So what gives?
Not only were people drawn to My Space like a bee is drawn to honey, they were also spending seemingly huge amounts of time creating a My Space profile of perfection. People add music. They add quizzes. There are even colorful backgrounds. All of these things will freeze up your computer, free of charge!
You also know these people are huge My Space fiends because they have the 1,543 friends to show for it. Where do these people come from?! It's like imaginary friends of the adult variety cause if you take the time to look at these people with 1,000 + friends you'll notice something. Most of them are not legitimate people like you or I. No, friends include "people" like Bob Ross, McDreamy or even the The OC.
Part of me gets a kick out of this. These people are having fun and who am I to deny anyone a little fun? But there does come a point where it all seems a little... pointless.
I know what you're thinking. Many of those folks could look at this blog and say the very same thing. Touche my friends. Touche. But I like to think I'm building something here. Something more than a community that fosters connections via empty "Happy Saint Patrick's Day!" comments and little else.
Although every cloud has a silver lining, also from every cloud a little rain must fall. My Space has gotten into the news a lot lately for being a hotbed of horrible activity. There are children posing as adults and adults looking to pose children. It's things like this that suck the fun out of being silly. Seriously.
Perhaps we should go back to the days when you found someone the old fashioned way, through the phonebook. There was no sublisting for your favorite tv show or your sexual preference. Just seven digits and 70,000 people who shared your last name. On second thought, maybe that's not such a great idea.
No My Space is fine, for now. Sure, it might put private eyes out of business and talk show hosts out of a job, but it also serves its purpose. People everywhere are smiling on their brother. Some are reunited and it feels so good.
And if I write about it here, maybe you'll even add me as your friend and make my space your space, too. Come on. All the cool kids are doing it.
The internet is like the bridge that connects this gap. If there's something or someone you're looking for you no longer need the help of Sally Jessy Raphael to go find them. No, all you need is Google, a mouse and persistance.
A few years ago, before I started this blog, I joined an online network known as Friendster. Back then my mission was simple. I hoped to reconnect with old friends while networking with new ones. I have long wondered why it wasn't easier to meet up with people of common interests. Why it is that so many people hit a certain age and plateau and do not add any newbies into their circle of friends. I was going to break the Berlin Wall of friendship if it killed me.
Friendster allowed me to reconnect with some old friends, but mostly I was finding people I already talked to in my day to day life. No offense, but do we really need a profile online to communicate with people we just saw two hours ago? Unless of course, we all have different personas, a la Clark Kent and Superman. I'm sure a conversation with him would never be dull.
So while my Friendster profile was out in cyberspace collecting dust, someone brought to my attention the site known as My Space.
It wasn't as if I had never heard of My Space before, cause I had. I just didn't pay much attention to it. I had a Friendster space. By this time I also had this blog space. How much space does one person need to occupy anyhow?
Of course, just like with everything else, I figured if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. And so, God help me, I made like a good litttle conformist and joined the masses in the My Space march.
What happened next astounded me. My Space was like Friendster, only hotter. How did this happen? While I'm not cheerleader for Friendster, allow me to play the role of devil's advocate here. Friendster by far offers the superior interface. It looks more professional and it it doesn't move as slow as molasses either, like My Space does. They are also both free. So what gives?
Not only were people drawn to My Space like a bee is drawn to honey, they were also spending seemingly huge amounts of time creating a My Space profile of perfection. People add music. They add quizzes. There are even colorful backgrounds. All of these things will freeze up your computer, free of charge!
You also know these people are huge My Space fiends because they have the 1,543 friends to show for it. Where do these people come from?! It's like imaginary friends of the adult variety cause if you take the time to look at these people with 1,000 + friends you'll notice something. Most of them are not legitimate people like you or I. No, friends include "people" like Bob Ross, McDreamy or even the The OC.
Part of me gets a kick out of this. These people are having fun and who am I to deny anyone a little fun? But there does come a point where it all seems a little... pointless.
I know what you're thinking. Many of those folks could look at this blog and say the very same thing. Touche my friends. Touche. But I like to think I'm building something here. Something more than a community that fosters connections via empty "Happy Saint Patrick's Day!" comments and little else.
Although every cloud has a silver lining, also from every cloud a little rain must fall. My Space has gotten into the news a lot lately for being a hotbed of horrible activity. There are children posing as adults and adults looking to pose children. It's things like this that suck the fun out of being silly. Seriously.
Perhaps we should go back to the days when you found someone the old fashioned way, through the phonebook. There was no sublisting for your favorite tv show or your sexual preference. Just seven digits and 70,000 people who shared your last name. On second thought, maybe that's not such a great idea.
No My Space is fine, for now. Sure, it might put private eyes out of business and talk show hosts out of a job, but it also serves its purpose. People everywhere are smiling on their brother. Some are reunited and it feels so good.
And if I write about it here, maybe you'll even add me as your friend and make my space your space, too. Come on. All the cool kids are doing it.
<< Home