social networks on the silver screen

While of course it happened at different rates in different places, think the last year or so was the time when social networking moved from simply being everywhere, to being downright default. Many people were on Facebook before, but now it has become almost expected, like having a phone number. And of course it means that it's probably used in both more various, and also mundane ways than before. So on the one hand you have the explosion of commerical 'profiles' (every shop or company has a facebook page) and on the other you have another large amount of people using it not to check out (or check in) what's going on, but simply to use it like a simple unified mailbox, which is there if needed.

Anyway - surely there can be no more reliable sign that something has become default and de rigeuer, than for Hollywood to suddenly make a batch of films about it. Recently watched two quite good ones on the Facebook theme - Catfish (about a guy tracking down a facebook 'girlfriend' who turns out to be a middle aged mom) andThe Social Network, an enjoyable, but probably quite unreliable tale of Facebook itself.

Without going into a full review of either, there were a couple of nice themes which stood out for me. What I liked about Catfish was it went beyond just being a simple story about a spoof, and captured an underlying emotion and confusion that could so easily have been discarded. Rather than revelling in the exposure of the poor woman who had set up the hoax, it avoided the temptation to depict her as just 'nuts', and instead showed elements to her story that showed how complicated life can be, even online. She didn't come across as a whacko, and yet had set up a ridiculous fraudulent fantasy world. She wasn't a loner desperate for company - she had a husband and family who she seemed devoted to. And in fact, in her caring for the handicapped sons of her husbands previous marriage, she revealed a self sacrifice beyond many of us. Even if it wasn't true (it could be, but I presume it isn't) it showed at two levels how one again can't judge a book by its cover, and not even it's first pages. The girl the guy met online, wasn't really a girl, but beyond that it just wasn't as simple as labelling the woman behind it as a simple fraud. One would assume whoever did this to be deserving of condemnation or at least pity, but in some ways she was even more deserving of respect - being a good mother, and a pretty inventive one as well! Of course she pretended to be someone she wasn't - but how different is it to do it on facebook, then in an online multiplayer roleplaying game like Word of Warcraft or something? A large part of the web is about avatars and other selves, and just because the likes of facebook is supposedly based on the 'real' world, doesn't mean that element of web culture isn't going to infect it.

And it highlighted how our normal reactions to things on the web need to be more nuanced as well. With its and raging blogs, short anonymous comments and even shorter attention spans, the web is not a place renowned for deep considered thought. One is exposed to many people's views and opinions, but only for a limited time or in a limited context. Who they really are isn't available, so I suppose it is inevitable the tendency is to snap judgments. So when it became clear it was all a hoax, the first gut reaction was of the 'sad loser fake' variety, and then a desire to see this fraud cruelly exposed. But then we saw the handicapped kids, and the hard working mother, and it became clear how complicated things really were, and reminded us there's always a face behind the mask, even online.

The Social Network also tried to portray some human foibles behind even one of the most successful creations ever, at least if counted in terms of membership. While there was a distinct sound of grinding axes in the background, it was an interesting thesis that the man who built an empire on the concept of 'friends', mightn't have had a lot of them to start or end with. And honestly said, that probably isn't too unlikely given the amount of dedication, or rather obsession, required to create and control such a venture. But there were some positive things to take away from it too - the image of the lonely coder, slogging away on his personal project, is an inspiration to seize the day and create something. Of course for every Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg, there are many many more unsung failures, but it might well be the case that pursuing the dream is the reward - otherwise why would either Gates or Zuckerberg persist for so long after they had already succeeded by any measure? And, paradoxically, there is on the other hand a sense of satisfaction to be had if one actually isn't so driven, and can just enjoy and live one's life as it is, unlike these guys, who are their own slave-drivers. It's good to have goals and follow them, but it's even better to have something else beside.

Which I guess applies to facebook itself as well, nice to have, and cool if everyone's in, but at the end of the day, it's even better that one can just turn it off and go outside. The perfect setup is when being off is just as good as being on.