Standard Oil Sets Precedent -- for MySpace!
I have formulated a theory about MySpace, that crazy cool site for trendy bored teenagers and 40 year old sexual predators. For those that do not know, MySpace is sort of a cross between a journal and a personal webpage. People list their personal information, likes & dislikes, photos of themselves and their friends, links to others, and random diary entries. Most of the members are teenagers freshly imbued by the Age of Technology. MySpace has also become a place for new bands, movies, and artists to advertise themselves by making available music downloads, tour info, pics, and journals. If you do not have a MySpace page, then you are a lame-o. I do not, thus one reason why I am a lame-o (the other reason is my outdated jargon).
The Daily Show once made fun of a particular facet of MySpace: Friends (This clip of the newstory by Demetri is great, please look at it). You can connect to another person's page by inviting them to become your friend. All your friends are displayed on your page, and it is not uncommon for a person who spends a lot of time on mySpace to have hundreds, if not thousands, of friends.
People who do not enjoy 'social website networking' (this is usually older people or those college kids who feel superior -- myself included!) scoff at the concept of listing as friends thousands of people you've never met or interacted with beyond an introductory email. Why the hell would people want to do such a thing? Is it simple competition? "I have more friends than you. You are a complete loser!"
My contention is that this behaviour is not simply just a 'status thing', but stems from behaviour that already exists. And this comes from the business community, especially those that spend all their time on airplanes and attending conferences. These people continously make contacts that are business-related, but almost always consumated (non-sexually, of course) through personal festivities: drinks, dinner, lounging by the pool, etc. So a year after meeting someone, a person can claim to 'have a friend' such-and-such, even though their actually relationship is as superficial as it gets. They may only talk once a year, or had only talked during that business conference in Tahiti. But this person is a 'business contact', although this terminology is deemed to impersonal, and so most of the time the person is refered to as a 'friend of mine' (just like Goodfellas!).
So mySpace 'friends' are merely a way to practice the art of building business contacts. Forty-year-old insurance salesmen who make fun of mySpace users have been doing the same thing for decades. Just check their rolodex.
The Daily Show once made fun of a particular facet of MySpace: Friends (This clip of the newstory by Demetri is great, please look at it). You can connect to another person's page by inviting them to become your friend. All your friends are displayed on your page, and it is not uncommon for a person who spends a lot of time on mySpace to have hundreds, if not thousands, of friends.
People who do not enjoy 'social website networking' (this is usually older people or those college kids who feel superior -- myself included!) scoff at the concept of listing as friends thousands of people you've never met or interacted with beyond an introductory email. Why the hell would people want to do such a thing? Is it simple competition? "I have more friends than you. You are a complete loser!"
My contention is that this behaviour is not simply just a 'status thing', but stems from behaviour that already exists. And this comes from the business community, especially those that spend all their time on airplanes and attending conferences. These people continously make contacts that are business-related, but almost always consumated (non-sexually, of course) through personal festivities: drinks, dinner, lounging by the pool, etc. So a year after meeting someone, a person can claim to 'have a friend' such-and-such, even though their actually relationship is as superficial as it gets. They may only talk once a year, or had only talked during that business conference in Tahiti. But this person is a 'business contact', although this terminology is deemed to impersonal, and so most of the time the person is refered to as a 'friend of mine' (just like Goodfellas!).
So mySpace 'friends' are merely a way to practice the art of building business contacts. Forty-year-old insurance salesmen who make fun of mySpace users have been doing the same thing for decades. Just check their rolodex.
posted by Kris at 8:03 PM
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