A Friends bulletin, redone

So, I got one of those bulletins from a friend that talks about Friends, and was bullied into passing it on.

: )

Okay, not really bullied, but it did make me think. So I rewrote it a bit ( or a lot ) and "reposted" my version. This is what I wrote:

"
subject: just wondering...
body: ...about friends, and bulletins, and MySpace.

I don't collect Friends, pics, or attention here... and I'm not exactly alone in that when I look to my own Friends List. I don't Add people who aren't special to me in some way, because they have a hot pic, or for any other reason that I've talked with them, and found them interesting and willing to talk back.

An interesting topic, to be sure. Not everyone uses Friends here like I do, and that's cool. Not a thing in the world says that how I feel about friends in real ( or maybe just the term "friend" ) should apply to this place online.

But for me, that's what feels right.

Just because you're in my Friend Space doesn't mean we see each other all the time, or that we've even met in real life. But it does mean you're signifigant to me, in some way. It means we share, and are interested in what the other person not only puts up here in MySpace, but what's going on in their lives.

Chance, synchronicity, fortune, fate, or some damn thing connected us, and for everyone on my Friends list, I made the decision to stay connected.



This is a passing on of a similar bulliten; I rewrote it to serve my own purposes, put it in my own words and to make it mine. Maybe you won't pass this on... but think about the Friends thing here on MySpace for a second.

Are you building a collection? Do you talk to these people? Does their picture matter in your decision to add them or not? What -does- matter?

No judgements here... I have my own opinions and feelings, definitely.. but more then that, I am just curious from a scientific/anthro/sociology point of view.

Hmmmmmmm.
"

And that's the truth. I am curious about it. I'm -way- curious about how people bring their values and ideas into a place like MySpace... someplace without any physical component. Here in MySpace how my profile looks, what it says, how I've diddled with it ( or not ) says as much about me ( maybe more ) as the way I talk, my vocabulary, my fashion sense, my body and so on does in real life.

As humans, we make these associations. We bring what is familiar with us into this unfamiliar place, cybersapce. MySpace.

So... a few questions...

What about these people who collect Friends on MySpace like they are going out of style? Or because they are famous? or because they have a hot picture? Does this say anything about that person?

I'm not sure it does, but I am -way- curious to learn a bit more about it. the possibilities woudl include:

It doesn't mean anything at all to them; no association with friends in real life, and the term. This is the computer, and the internet, and it's a totlaly different thing.

Or

They collect a million friends because of how they perceive Friends to be used here in MySpace; perhaps different then how you ( or they ) might use them or the term in real life )

Or

The people with a zillion Friends here on MySpace really -are- bringing over how they are in real life; they toss around the term "Friend" to refer to someone they've had even the most casual acquaintence with, on one occassion, maybe.

Or

Perhaps they have some have some sort of Celebrity- Fan thing going on.


All interesting possibilities. Does "Friends" here mean the same thing as in real life? Something approximate? And if so, what are the characteristics of that approximation? Do people who seem to be casual with Friends here act in a similar casual way with friends in real life?

What do you think?