Thursday, August 30, 2007

why facebook kicks myspace's ass

Can you say Zombie fights? Oh and throw a few vampires and werewolves to boot.

Facebook is interesting in the way it's changing how the socializing works on social networking sites. It's not just post, comment, flame. There are all these silly little things that may or may not add up to much, like zombies fighting vamps, but they are entertaining. I'm not sure how much of the "poking" and other novelties will build themselves into offline relationships. I mean, when I see one of these friends offline, will I bring up in the conversation, "yeah, my zombie sent your werewolf a can of whup-arse".

But maybe. I did ask the question on Facebook, "What part of the world should I visit?" One answer from fellow Meritage Press author, Ernesto was Mexico City, when he's there. Then I reply, "ooh, how about a Meritage Press author reading in Mexico City?" And while we haven't spoken seriously about dates and location, since afterall Ernesto is not in Mexico City right now, I'm interested to see how facebook and other social networking sites manifest themselves offline. Blogging has brought about quite a bit of interaction offline, but seems more on the cerebral end.

I do behave differently on facebook. Like is it ok to "poke" a colleague from work or turn them into a zombie? I stay on the conservative side and only bite people when bitten. If you attack me, well then, it's on! Then I'll "buy" you a picture of a drink later on.

1 comment:

Ernesto said...

I'll be in Mexico City next May if everything goes well. And my former student Rebeka Lembo (whose translations appear on Eileen's The Light) is still at the uni down there so with her I'm sure we could organize something at the university in Mexico... wouldn't that be nice? (Rebeka is also on facebook)