The public and the world wild web

Today’s world wild web has really brought out the voyeurs and exhibitionists in us. In Plurk alone, I’m privy to the heartbreaks of many and the not-so-hidden desires of not just a few. I mean pick up useful information—to make sure I’m not just wasting time, I made sure to add some current or future movers and shakers and opinion-makers as Plurk Friends—but I also know who’s hating his current job, who’s being harassed by a boss, and who got only P573.28 one pay day. And I don’t know these people in real life! 

I’ve written about Plurk here before. It’s a micro-blogging website, one of many, in which people can detail the exciting, not-to-be-missed minutiae of their lives. I myself have been guilty of posting about what I’m craving, what I’m eating, what I ate and of passionate commenting on what other people are craving, what they’re eating and what they ate. What can I say, Plurk is another way to feel connected and, well, stay entertained.

Today’s world wild web has really brought out the voyeurs and exhibitionists in us. In Plurk alone, I’m privy to the heartbreaks of many and the not-so-hidden desires of not just a few. I mean pick up useful information—to make sure I’m not just wasting time, I made sure to add some current or future movers and shakers and opinion-makers as Plurk Friends—but I also know who’s hating his current job, who’s being harassed by a boss, and who got only P573.28 one pay day. And I don’t know these people in real life! 

Facebook is another world altogether, with its not-to-be-missed alerts that show up in the equally-impossible-to-miss News Feed. Those friends who are not really friends who only made appearances in your Friendster’s testimonials section or your Multiply’s comments thread? They can bombard you with snippets of their lives through the Facebook News Feed. And all of these are open to comment too!

I think we’re still in the process of unlearning the way things are done in earlier social networking websites like Friendster. In the era of Friendster, people had to sift through their contact list, and deliberately follow click after click, to find out if Guy from the Past or Girl of Your Dreams or The Ex from Hell is already in a relationship. That was the Era of Stalking.

We are now in the Age of Oversharing—yet, we still don’t quite get that in Facebook, updates are often put out in the open, inviting attention even from people who probably only remember you as that girl who ate her hair in high school. 

I’ve lost count of the many times I found myself reading through comments, both supportive and tactless, on alerts that say Contact So-and-so is no longer listed as “in a relationship.” One commenter even said, bluntly, “So, break na kayo?” And I still can’t understand how people can find it in themselves to post flippant comments on alerts that say Contact So-and-so is no longer listed as married. I mean, is nothing sacred anymore?

If you consider Burger King’s recent Facebook campaign, nothing is. The “Whopper Sacrifice” campaign offered a free hamburger to anyone who “unfriended” 10 of his Facebook friends. Facebook suspended the application because those who were dropped in exchange for a burger actually received alerts informing them of such. Those who’ve been in the social networks long enough know that you can do anything you want—blog about the naughtiest escapades, post pictures of your drunken friends, curse in your shout-outs—but deleting friends is an absolute no-no. 

What’s funny, though, is that it’s not as much about losing a friend as it is about feeling the humiliation of having even the flimsiest ties cut. It’s the grade school playground all over again, and nobody has picked you to play in their dodge ball team. 

I have to confess that I’ve contemplated pruning my growing contact lists many times. For some sort of order, I said I’d make Friendster more public, Multiply more private, and Facebook more activity-oriented, because all the fun stuff is there. I’ve managed to do the first two, and completely threw the third out the window. Facebook is alive, I tell you.

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