InterventTech

Armed with his Gary Numan ‘Are Friends Electric’ timing devise (very cute), Matt Jones, co-founder of Dopplr, used his moment on the ‘Social Networking,’ platform to announce a plea to ‘kill friending!’ Alongside his belief that there are ‘far more interesting social activities we can develop and do online,’ (very true), Matt expressed an annoyance with the increasing use of ’strong bond language,’ within mainstream online social networks like myspace and facebook. He also took issue with our apparent preoccupation with friend collecting. Friends do not = trophies people…

An overtly confrontational plea that was a touch semantic in style, there was a decent and pertinent point at the core of Matt’s argument. That is, the reality of adding a friend on ‘facebook,’ ‘myspace,’ or any other ‘relationship focussed’ social network for that matter, is not as rich an experience as making (adding) a friend in ‘real life.’ From Matt’s point of view, by framing friends as ‘collectibles,’ many online social networks are altering (albeit subtly) how we view, experience and value our friendships. They’re reshaping the social process of friend making by injecting an ‘addictive,’ and ‘competitive,’ element. The result is that the meaningful aspects of real world friendship building are getting lost, simplified and trivialised in online social spaces. From a users point of view, I guess I just don’t really think about it that deeply – but perhaps we should…?

What is friending..?
There is no question that ‘friending’ via networks like facebook, bebo and myspace don’t replicate the nuances and richness of our ‘real world’ experience of ‘being,’ and ‘making,’ friends. Adding a friend online via the ‘click of an action’ is far simpler and immediate than spending time with someone on a regular basis, building up a shared history and sense of humour, helping and caring for someone and gaining a fondness for their idiosyncrasies. In this respect, perhaps Matt is absolutely right. The use of ’strong bond’ terminology is misleading and problematic.

On the flip side however, reflecting on my own use of facebook (I’m not a member of myspace or bebo), I do regard the ‘unfortunate lot’ in my ‘friend network,’ to be real friends. Some, for sure, are friends from my past. My rule for this lot is that we have a strong enough history and share a lasting common fondness for each other. Other ‘friends’ of course are from my present. Luckily for facebook, it is this group of people that keep me an active member of their network. This group includes everyday pals, flat mates (current and old), colleagues I’m comfortable ‘letting in,’ and other friends I see as part of my different ‘real world,’ social networks. Remaining others are what I call ‘future friends.’ These are most often new and exciting acquaintances that I hope to develop a deeper friendship with over time. Friendships that on some level, I feel facebook can help me out with…

For me, other benefits of my extended friendship networks online include being able to keep in touch with the people I care about more easily, invest time in new friendships more frequently, bring people together by organising ‘real world social events,’ quickly (like brilliant parties and pub quizzes) and of course, remembering birthdays! In my example then, the social action of ‘friending,’ online is very much founded in meaningful real-world relationships and intentions. It’s also reasonably considered. Perhaps not so problematic then?

In reference to ‘friending,’ in the context of other kinds of online social networks (namely multi-player games), Aleks Krotowski shared some thoughts on the often expressed ‘requirement’ that to have ‘real value,’ online friendships must have foundation in the ‘real-world.’ Contesting this position, Aleks shared insights from her own research that highlights that many examples of friendships forged solely online, are felt to be equally as significant by those involved (and in some cases more so) as the friends they forge in real life…hhhmmmmm…so where do go from here then..?

Being friends online…
Considering technology as ’social enabler,’ Aleks went on to share some thoughts on the acute differences and social nuances involved in being social online – in comparison to ‘real-life.’ This included the use of pseudonyms to remain anonymous and separate our ‘real’ from our ‘digital’ lives.’ By enabling people to cast aside and/or hide their ‘physical identity,’ in online communities, virtual environments allow us to express ourselves in new ways – ways we may not be able to and/or feel uncomfortable doing in the real world.

Whether we realise it or not, many of us also establish multiple identities for ourselves online. We often present our ‘physical selves’ in networks like facebook and work related websites, we establish more playful, sometimes sexual and branded identities (i’m thinking bands, independent record labels and singers) in networks like myspace, we use avatars to represent ourselves in online games and virtual worlds and many of us have a collection of pseudonyms/user-names that we use when we comment on blogs, online communities, recommendation sites and media sharing services.

Interestingly, by establishing a collection of digital identities we are ultimately empowered to manage our social actions online and in the real world in more structured, complex, creative, subversive, challenging and conscious ways. A new exhibition called Secret Portraits curated by The Unknown Artist Virtual Museum attempts to explore the theme of ’secrecy as representation’ a little further. The aim is to reveal the ancient form of portraiture in the digital age.

By no means restricted to online environments. Other ‘real world,’ and popular examples of artists exploring and playing with mutable representations and hidden identities include Orlan, Cindy Sherman, Banksy and the Gorrilaz. It’s also worth mentioning that historically, women artists and writers have often established male pseudonyms to get their work published. Likewise actors, singers and performers have, for a long time, used stage names to enhance their public persona, stir up a level of excitement and mystery about themselves and add ‘a little glamour,’ to their public image. The new opportunities that the internet brings I guess is in the sheer quantity of alternative identities one can create, the opportunity to manage these identities in more sophisticated ways and an increased detachment from our physical selves.

How are we interacting online…? and what does this mean?
In most cases, because interaction online takes place via text, there is little ‘physical gesture,’ involved in social activity. In some contexts we use VOIP, ‘emote symbols,’ video conferencing/calling services and avatars to add elements of intonation and physicality to our communication, but the use of these services is currently far less common and probably deserves a post in it’s own right….(some other time).

On the point of text driven communication, James Wallbank of Access Space Media Lab expressed his concern that by using text exclusively and/or opting for text based communication over other forms, we may start to lose the skills and benefits of physical interaction. Describing online social networking as crap!…a real world example James sited was the image of two people in a pub each using their mobile phone to interact with others elsewhere. Is that really what we mean by ’spending time together.’

Why might people opt to use text based interaction over physical engagement to communicate? Is it because we feel comfortable being more detached? Or perhaps because it’s quicker, more convenient and to the point? Is it because we don’t want to be bothered with rich communication experience anymore? Or because we feel uncomfortable when we’re in them? Maybe we do want more rich social experiences in our lives, and are using technologies to help us organise them more effectively within our social lives…

rubbingshoulders.info
One of the futuresonic commissions that explored these issues head on was rubbingshoulders.info. An exclusive social network for people with sore backs, rubbingshoulders.info was promoted on billboards throughout Manchester by instructional cartoons. By joining the network and donning a rubbingshoulders.info sticker, members of the network are empowered to playfully overcome social barriers with a secret handshake to meet others. Members of the network that already know each other are also encouraged by the ‘network rules’ to give and receive back rubs. A remedy for those thousands of hours spent hunched over our computers…On the flip side, when a member of the network comes across a ‘non-member,’(people without stickers), the network requires you to keep them at a distance and establish a predetermined 50cm ‘personal space bubble.’

Coming back to the initial plea from Matt Jones to ‘Kill Friending,’ over all, the general feeling was that although ‘over rated,’ killing friending is a touch extreme. It’s just not that harmful.

Where we did agree however, was the importance of taking advantage of the new opportunities social software offers in exploring and creating more interesting, complex and socially active experiences, that perhaps challenge the imposed social structures and emerging social processes in online social networks. In other words, exploit and use these new technologies to achieve social outcomes, feedback and knowledge that would otherwise not be possible.

To provide a sense of what this could mean, I offer you some references:

• myfrennemies a social networking site that allows you to connect with people who pretend to like the same people as you
• Urban Atmospheres Proactive archeology of urban landscapes and emerging technology
• Social Mapping projects by Proboscis and Christian Nold
• Shannon Spanhake Inventor and Principle Investigator of a technology to intelligently monitor air quality via a mobile phone

-claire_w-

Credits in order:
Public sign, Made Out of People blog
Add to friends, Andy Bennett
Kissing scene from Second Life, Reuters article
Action scene, World of Warcraft
Cartoon instructions, rubbingshoulders.info