Facebook is like an endless art opening, where social connections are more tribal (with many-to-many connections, like below left) than personal. Personal connections mean a lot to me, tribal ones not so much.
In a room buzzing with tribal activity, at my worst I back you into a corner and treat you to a passionate monologue on something I find interesting. At my best I'm the 8th Grade wallflower at the school dance, whose face flushes and knees knock whenever the buddingly buxom object of his desire nears.I prayed Facebook would be different! Not like Friendster, then MySpace -- social networks I entered, fouled and fled like an escaped circus freak searching for home, a deformed thing that -- though striking in silhouette as it scurries along the darkening horizon -- is better appreciated from a distance.
I could try to improve my networking skills, but at this point it might make more sense to ditch the human aspect altogether and become an idea or "brand" -- let's call it KS -- worthy of Facebook fan worship (like the red center of the many-to-one network, right). The brand-fan relationship, while safely distant, is still personal, isn't it?Once KS the brand has caught on, I -- it -- could hire someone halfway around the world to do its Facebook updates while it sleeps, so it becomes a 24/7 broadcast, a blinding hypnotic lighthouse that burns its brand onto fans' retinas, so they see it in their sleep, until there are legions upon legions of them chanting its name under their breath without even noticing, until it replaces the dead space between every utterance on earth and pushes the aether back another half mile into space.
Did I mention it may be easier to appreciate from a distance?The more I think about it the more I like it; KS makes a good strong brand.
After all, it stands in for the whole state of Kansas and envelops each and every KisS -- and is there any kind of romance more romantic than prairie romance?
And now that it's arrived, I'd like to thank its mother for giving it the opportunity to become a living, breathing brand. It more than makes up for the networking genes not quite ready for Facebook.
