Few years ago there was all that hype about Second Life. Second Life was a virtual reality. It was not a game – you did not play there but you would go in and create your avatar the way you like it, build your house, meet new people, go to rock concerts, etc. It was what the name said – a second, or a parallel, life. Many companies invested money to be represented in Second Life. Adidas created special SL shoes, Coca-Cola was in, IBM, Ford . Many people spent hours there, many spent dollars there, and some even earned a little fortune there. Thank God, the Second Life craze eased (or is it just that I don’t follow the news on interactive topics since I left Ogilvy?) but we immediately found a substitute. Within few months, Facebook turned into Second Life, just a bit creepier – because in SL you invented your avatar. In Facebook you are yourself – but (trying to be) funnier, sexier, cooler. And you constantly feed the world with the newest update about how you are feeling, what you are doing, whom you are meeting, how you are looking. I notice that we are slowly becoming seriously addicted to this possibility of a virtual projection of our lives to the world. Yes, Facebook has good sides – like me finding my first boyfriend who is now in Thailand and whom I would have otherwise never found. On the other hand, I am wondering if Facebook will soon turn into some weird second reality which will slowly take up a life of its own. Imagine one day the Facebook “us” started rebelling and decided to mess up our real lives. With all that information and trust, easily done….
Tags: Media, Relationships, System
Annakins….come on, who do you think you are fooling? You want us to believe that you only just found your first boyfriend?!! Ahahaha
hey come on ana, i am at least as funny, sexy and cool in real life as i am on facebook
))
but yep… i recently also made a remark that facebook reminds me a bit of people in the former german democratic republic, watching western television and taking all the stuff for real which they were seeing over the border, in those commercials which painted all life in bright colours. but agree that it is really convenient to keep in contact actually. i recently got some girlfriend as a contact with which i had been together for several years, several years ago, and it is kind of nice to catch up after such a long time. even if it again makes the list of people you can wholeheartedly hate a bit shorter again…