Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: embarrassing stories, fmylife, fmylife.com, followers, following, horrible, Korean Tacos, mortifying, online, pathetic, problems, reality check, sympathy, textsfromlastnight.com, therapy, tweet, tweeting, twitter, twitter.com, voyeristic, youtube, youtube.com
I’m really fascinated with this phenomenon on the internet where we have the need – or perhaps anonymous ability – to share with the world our weakest, most desperate, most pathetic, and most stupid moments. I’m not sure exactly where it started – youtube perhaps – but this need to share horrific and embarrassing moments has spawned entire websites of their own. My favorite examples being fmylife.com – who is even publishing a book – and my newer discovery of textsfromlastnight.com.
Unlike a video of yourself doing something stupid on youtube, these later two websites allow you to share your bad moments with the world while staying anonymous. The genius in these website are that it’s like going to a therapist, but free. You share your mortifying secrets, get that release, and people will either sympathize with you (“Yeah your life is f*cked”) or let you know you need to get over yourself (“You deserved that one”). What else are you asking for from an expensive therapist besides sympathy or a reality check anyway?
But with these sites, there’s also this voyeuristic aspect. It’s like more along the lines of group therapy where not only do you get to share your pain, but you get to hear others’ experiences as well. Not only do we share our problems, but we get to hear – and laugh at – everyone else’s mishaps.
Is this sick? Or awesome? Admittedly, I have not (yet) added anything to stories like these sites. Although I do very much enjoy an LOL provoked by the poor fools who have added their stories. I do wonder about the truth of these stories, however, like James Frey’s “autobiography” A Million Little Pieces, I decided that I don’t care how true or false it is, I still enjoyed reading it and consider it a good story.
So there’s another aspect of these sites that I also find fascinating: life writing in 100 word or less. People have the ability to share their life stories in brief little spurts with a theme, depending on the website they post on – such as why my life sucks, or the text messages they shouldn’t have sent.
And speaking of 100 words or less, we can’t forget about Twitter. Ah Twitter. Amazing marketing for that site/program. I have friends who think it won’t last long because it’s just a trend – the hot thing right now. In some ways, I very much agree. I feel that Facebook has it’s status updates, and everything else – photos, info, posts, etc – all in one convenient place. Where as Twitter is pretty much just status updates. However, Twitter has been able to give users ideas on how to use its services. Apparently, there’s a Korean Taco truck in the LA area that tweets it’s locations to it followers, so you don’t know where to get a Korean Taco unless you follow them on Twitter.
Hmm…seems like a bit much to me. Trying really hard to have a “cult” like following. But at the same time, every time they tweet their location people line up to get their Korean Tacos (which I have heard are really good). So I’ll be watching you Twitter. See how long this fad – or innovation – lasts.
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