Monday, October 03, 2005

The End of Friendster Stalking

Okay, I know things were getting pretty serious here over the last few days, as I let my creepy Bob Dylan obsession out of the closet for a bit. I figured that now would be a good time for a break, an intermission of sorts, as I don't want y'all to forget about that fun-lovin', suburb-hatin', booty-music connoisseur you all grew to love.

First, let me just say that a new world dawns for us. When I say 'us', I mean the various hipsters in Philly and Brooklyn, most of the people in the Philipines under the age of 25, ex-sorority members around the nation and a few random souls who have joined the Friendster site. That's right, I dare speak of Friendster, the place that was all the rage in 2003-4, but which is now treated like the friend who goes on tour with a jam band. In other words, never spoken about again. For those who don't know, the site was supposed to be a easy way to stay in touch and aware of your friends, connect to friends of friends and set friends up with potential mates. It quickly became a place to quantify one's friendships and to collect "friends" in a perverse popularity contest, as well as a Big Brother-esque tool to stalk other people without the binoculars and bush.

I personally never gave up on the site, as I owe to it the best thing in my life now. That's between me and Friendster, but let's just say that I still defend it to others, stick up for it when people talk shit about it, and spread rumors about Myspace whenever possible.

Today, thanks to the heads-up of MC, MR and MF, I learned that one of the Holy Grails of Friendsterdom has happened. That's right, you can now see who looks at your profile. No, I don't mean the number of people who have viewed your profile. I mean, you can see their profile and picture and contrived interests, see who has been checking you out. This means the end of Friendster as we knew it, as one's behavior has to change immediately. No more spying on ex-girlfriends or boyfriends, friends you hate now, attractive people, etc. It also means coming face to face with your own personal stalkers, a chance to see what sort of people are intrigued enough by your picture to click the mouse. I recommend that you head over and check things out ASAP, before everyone realizes that you can search anonymously. Friends, I'm not sure what the future holds, but I know that it's going to be a brave (brave=creepy) new world.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

No more Friendster stalking? I have no idea what I'm going to do all day at work.

(I'm not anonymous; I just forget what my "identity" is on this damn site)

-Michele

Anonymous said...

i forget my identity too. i have too many to count.

i think everyone already figured out how to change their settings to stalk--i mean view--anonymously...let the time-wasting commence!!

-t