Quitting Facebook for MySpace… Symmetry
I’ve been trying to quit Facebook unsuccessfully for the past year now. I’ll always leave for a couple of weeks then need it for something; succumbing to societal pressure once again. I’ve been off for a 12 days this time and have almost made it to my old record. I don’t know what my friends are doing, and I’m actually missing events unless I’m told about it specifically! I understand the irony, however. The boy that couldn’t be bothered to respond to a simple evite because Facebook was so much simpler, is now practically off the grid to nearly everyone I know. I’m a non-person… I’m untouchable.
Of course, the other thing I’ve noticed is the inability to keep mind controlling my digital harem. I can’t follow Pimp Rule #1 and “stay on her mind” because I’ve cut access to the most potent mind control device since television. This is probably BETTER for me, because now my harem can’t stay on my mind either. So maybe I can make attempt #37 with my ruca work out this time. Then again, maybe not, because it isn’t like I quit social networking altogether.
For me, the magic currently happens over at Google+. It’s got a fantastic set up, integrates with everything I like to use, and gets new and improved updates from people and information sources that matter. Plus (ha!), it’s so much easier to filter out noise than it is on Facebook. Maybe this is the bastard in me, but I don’t care about my friend’s kids – especially when they aren’t doing anything funny. Google+ doesn’t have kids yet. Honestly, it doesn’t have anyone I know using it with regularity. It’s still tough not to trip over the tumbleweeds…
Back in 2004 or 5, I remember taking part in the mass exodus from the declining MySpace platform and jumping ship to Facebook. Facebook was simpler, cooler, had way more college girls on it, and was always evolving. MySpace on the other hand, was buggy, loud, and filled with predators if the news was any indication. Since I wasn’t about to be kidnapped and kidney jacked just get a few stragglers into my rock shows. Slowly but surely, Facebook won… With everybody. It was the easiest way to do anything with everything with anyone I knew. I could feed my need for stardom, feed my desire to share my perspective, feed my love life, and even feed my fetish. Facebook became the ham to my burger. It was a paradigm shift so complete and perverse that you don’t even have to create logins for other websites anymore. Just just verify a Facebook. Now that’s power.
Unfortunately, a few years and an IPO later and now Facebook has the opposite problem of its predecessor. Too many restrictions and too little personality. Everyone’s page looks the same. Facebook will single you out and judge you to your face about making too many friend requests from people you don’t actually know, but Facebook will allow you to pay them a dollar to send that person and unsolicited message. Facebook lowers the amount of information that comes from user generated pages and instead charges for premium advertising. I am worth 18 dollars to Facebook just by existing on their platform.
Enter Justin Timberlake
The reigning king of blue eyed soul (despite not releasing an album for 6 years… now that’s power) has finally opened the gates to his digital kingdom. MySpace is back. It’s retooled, music focused, and honestly looks kinda like a web based version of Windows 8. But it’s slick, and it’s shiny yet it also retains that old feeling of continuity despite dissolving everything about my previous MySpace page. Still, I’m going to play Justin’s game for now. Drop some tracks on it, follow some artist I actually care about, and maybe meet some new collaborators. Once again, the irony is not lost on me. The fact that viruses, malware and all the ghosts of the MySpace ghost town didn’t devour the remains of the network is kinda magical in its own right. I’m gonna play here for a while… And I’m going to continue to exorcise Facebook from my life and see who I can bring with me.
If you need me… I’ll be on my suit and tie shit
(God I regret typing that…)
