Be Social, Go Virtual

What do ‘Campus Republicans’, ‘I love Biscuits and Scones’ and ‘I hate Nazis’ have in common? Well, no prizes for guessing — they are only a few of the many bizarre and prosaic 21st century communities that we are part of. Remember the adage that man is a social animal and that we live in a networked world? I woke up one day and found a “friend” invitation sitting in my mailbox from a certain James in Chicago. Close on its heels was a Ganesh from Chennai, with a similar request. I went to what is called their profile page out of morbid curiosity, only to find reams of personal information, ranging from the college they study in to the colour of their underwear. I was soon wading my way through photo albums, feeling like a voyeur. While Ganesh was posing in front of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, James had uploaded pictures from a French holiday. What, however, caught my attention, was a picture of my prospective pals James and Ganesh, grinning at me from what seemed to be a picturesque snowcovered landscape. “Jimmi and Ginni finally meet — backpacking in Ladakh”, the caption read. That explained it all. Thanks to Orkut, Facebook, MySpace and many such social networking sites, there are millions of Jimmis and Ginnis coming together and eagerly waiting for you to join them.

The brainchild of Orkut Buyukkokten and Mark Zuckerberg, Orkut and Facebook today have come to be the most soughtafter virtual hangouts for the youth and adults alike. A recent study suggests that there is more competition between these sites than even Pepsi and Coke to woo the socially starved. And why not, after all these sites allow you to jam and connect, kiss and kick, love and hate, login and tune-out — all at the same time. You can go on serious mate-hunting expeditions or simply snoop around other people’s lives for fun. But not all sites are junky and frivolous; some are insightful as well. Thanks to a series of personality assessment quizzes on Facebook, one has discovered that not only is one a right-brained person and that the colour of one’s heart is green.

So, if you want to be social, simply go virtual — just sign-up and login to a world of possibilities!