Do We Really Want to Friend Fido and a Fetus?
Wednesday, 15 April 2009As more and more people join Facebook, Twitter and all the other social media tag-alongs that come with these sites, stories seems to skew more towards “why aren’t they on Facebook?” as opposed to “oh my God, did you hear who’s on Twitter?”
With recent data putting Facebook at the 200 million active user mark, and Twitter stats boasting 700% growth, both sites show the biggest gains in “older” generations. 35 and
over, to be exact. But I guess that’s old for the internet.
If we assume that pretty much everyone over 13, the legal age for internet browsing sans parental supervision, is already on these sites, then how are they growing so fast? And where will it stop?
Obviously, this rapid growth will even out at some point, most likely in the near future, but I’ve also discovered a somewhat disturbing trend that could be contributing to user spikes: pet and progeny profiles.
Are pets and pregnant bellies really “active” users?
Besides being a little weird and kind of annoying, these types of profiles raise questions about the use and authenticity of social media. If Facebook insists that a celebrity or politician maintain a Page instead of a personal Profile, despite being an actual person, why is it cool for my cat to update its status? And why can’t the Nike swoosh have a Profile?
Don’t even get me started on baby-talk Tweets. This is not to say that the internet, and even social media, can’t be used to update people on how pets and pregnancies are doing, but there is a fine line between updating and personifying.
Losing sight of the supposed transparency of social media
Baby blogs are great, when told from the parent’s point of view. I think tasteful belly shots are cute, and I’m sure friends and relatives across the country like knowing what’s going on and how the mom-to-be is doing. But please spare me from cutesy posts talking about how warm Mommy’s tummy is and that you can’t wait to meet these weird people who keep trying to talk to you. Gag.
While these creative writing exercises drive me nuts, at least the ghostwriter parent is putting words in their unborn human child’s mouth. Admittedly, I have neither children nor pets at this point; I co-own a fish and do nothing more than torment it with daily tapping on his (its?) 
plastic box. But I’m sorry, when you create a Facebook account for your cat, it’s time to re-evaluate your idea of “social.”
Yes, a dryer may Tweet that clothes are done, but do we need a running commentary of the spin cycle? If not, why do I want to hear about your cat’s favorite scratching post?
Posting pictures or even whole albums of pets is totally normal (or so I’ve heard), provided they’re part of your account. I do not want to friend your feline or follow Fido on Twitter. Do not ask me to, or I might have to unfriend you, the crazy human owner. A pet owner’s social network seems like a great place to bond with like-minded people, but Facebook is for humans; in fact, their “About” section uses the word “people” 3 times in a 47 word explanation.
Ghostwriting gets a little creepy
My issue is not so much that you want to share this information, but what I can best describe as a disrespect for the medium. People go crazy when they hear that Britney Spears has a team of people Tweeting for her, or that a CEO has a ghostwriter working on his blog. So why is Tweeting your fetus’ every kick OK? I’m a big proponent of ghostwriting, but taking it this far just seems wrong. Also, I’ve never seen it done well. Maybe if good writers blogged as babies, I wouldn’t mind so much. Then again, maybe there’s a reason talented writers aren’t pretending to be infants online.
There’s no real data on this odd trend yet, so perhaps we’ve seen the worst of it…or it’s just begun. People have been blogging about their unborn babies, families and pets for years, but this ghostwriting phenomenon seems to be a fairly new arrival, and one that I’ve noticed seems to be on an upswing. Just anecdotal evidence and speculation right now, but I’d love to hear some stories and maybe see a few links to some of the worst offenders.
Maybe it’s a sign of the times. People are using social media as an escape from real life since you know, the economy isn’t doing so well. Unfortunately, that undermines others who use social media sites for more serious purposes i.e. work, chatting as themselves with friends.
People are able to bring things to ‘life’ on the internet that they couldn’t before, and are still able to remain anonymous if they desire.
I remember the days when people used to say, “It’s just the internet, don’t take is so seriously!” Now it’s completely reversed.
In terms of ghostwriting, it’s people’s inability to adapt to newer media. A lot of new users just rollover what they did in print media, to twitter, blogging, facebook, etc. I’m not really surprised, and I don’t see it changing too much in the future.