(this might belong more in my "random thoughts" page, but am posting it here since I think our online presence is now a real element of our society, and maybe even our psychology)
There's been a lot of talk recently about the demise of My Space, eclipsed as it now is by the behemoth that is Facebook. Initially I admit my attitude was more of a "good riddance to bad rubbish", since I never really liked the site, and although I did register, think abandoned it pretty much from the start. Having read some recent articles though, like this one , I've changed my mind somewhat, and would agree that its fall from grace is a loss for the web, but also says something about how it is evolving, and maybe not for the good.
The point made is that My Space pages were much more unique and personal than Facebook pages are. This meant a lot of them were pretty confusing, even awful, but I realise now that at least the setup encouraged an independent and distinct self-expression, which Facebook doesn't. Instead there's more of a box ticking approach, pidgeon-holing us all into pre- selected (and marketable) classes ( This is another relevant article ). And as Facebook becomes more and more the default everybody, this is something to ponder. It could be of the way the internet is starting to "solidify" into a few basic streams, losing its earlier swirling flexibility. Like in the way the use of app stores might replace general searching of the webb at large, this might be another example of people starting to "settle down" with some limited set technologies, and , since these technologies work for them, they look for and try out new things less, and their horizons slowly narrow. Whether this is really happening is debatable, but it is indeed possible, and worthth of investigation. It would make sense too, that as the majority come online, the web dynamic changes, since most people will be just joining by default at it were, and will just want to quickly join in with the main activities that are already ongoing, and that everybody else is doing. This would be in contrast to the earlier days of the web,when most of those involved would have had the awareness of, and zeal for, the openness and mutability of it all. The earlier generations would have been younger, or involved in the "new" economy or other areas that would have let them experience the web as a place of constant change and possibility, and in retrospect the idea of carving out "my space" in cyber space fitted well with that. Joining Facebook is now I think more about checking in to a"communal" space, and hence the orientation is different. Not that it isn't good in its own right - "community" is good, even online ones-but something is lost in the uniform homogeneity.
My Space was really more of a personal website or blog hoster, not a standardized notice board like Facebook. Ironically that was why I didn't like, but not because of what it tried to do, but because it didn't do it well enough. Ever since I've had decent constant internet access, since say,1997, I've tried to maintain my own web page, and at the time geocities or whatever suited me better. However, at least My Space tried to foster that general idea of each poison having their own "site", and I'm not aware of any major trend that replaces it in that respect.
Though, actually, there are plenty of free simple web hosting sites, (i use one myself!), so it is probably more to do with the prevailing will of the web, not the means.
I guess just like not everyone wants to write their own book, not everyone wants to create their own piece of space in the digital/social domain. What My Space represents though is the fact that, thanks to the internet, in both cases, everyone now can,and long may this continue. My Space may be dead, but long live our spaces!
Posted from phone via Blogaway (so excuse any typos!)
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