Rigtig god artikel af Christine Rosen med titlen “Virtual Friendship and the New Narcissism“. Oprindeligt set på Mindhacks bloggen hvor der også er lidt yderligere info. Omhandler brugen af social netværk såsom Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn etc. og hvilken personlig og samfundsmæssig effekt dette har. Vil ikke gå yderligere i detaljer her men i stedet give et par uddrag som appetitvækkere. Og, skulle man have lyst til yderligere at fordybe sig i alt det her med social netværksteknologi og lignende, ja, så kan man finde et væld af ting på Collectivate.net
… The Delphic oracle’s guidance was know thyself. Today, in the world of online social networks, the oracle’s advice might be show thyself.
… In Linked: The New Science of Networks, Albert-László Barabási enthuses, “The world is shrinking because social links that would have died out a hundred years ago are kept alive and can be easily activated. The number of social links an individual can actively maintain has increased dramatically, bringing down the degrees of separation. Milgram estimated six,” Barabási writes. “We could be much closer these days to three.”
… Indeed, this is one of the characteristics of MySpace most striking to anyone who spends a few hours trolling its millions of pages: it is an overwhelmingly dull sea of monotonous uniqueness, of conventional individuality, of distinctive sameness.
… Each site has its own terminology, but among the words that users employ most often is “managing.” The Pew survey mentioned earlier found that “teens say social networking sites help them manage their friendships.” There is something Orwellian about the management-speak on social networking sites: “Change My Top Friends,” “View All of My Friends” and, for those times when our inner Stalins sense the need for a virtual purge, “Edit Friends.” With a few mouse clicks one can elevate or downgrade (or entirely eliminate) a relationship.
… In investing so much energy into improving how we present ourselves online, are we missing chances to genuinely improve ourselves?
… Real intimacy requires risk—the risk of disapproval, of heartache, of being thought a fool. Social networking websites may make relationships more reliable, but whether those relationships can be humanly satisfying remains to be seen.