My So Called Virtual Life… by Zach Braiker Social Media Strategist

My So Called Virtual Life…

written on November 29th, 2005 by admin

It began with two games in middle school: the Oregon Trail and SimCity. At first, I played these simulations as I would any video game. However, I quickly became immersed. Oregon Trail became my daily obsession, and I even plotted with my friends at recess about ways to hunt and survive the cholera epidemic plaguing our characters. We associated ourselves with our success in the game, and as children, derived a sense of pride from our abilities. This all consuming feeling carried with me at times when my virtual life piqued.

SimCity consumed me shortly there after. There’s almost a godlike feeling in playing SimCity, and to be transformed from a short and irrelevant middle schooler to the king of your own kingdom provided a sense of importance lacking from the everyday. While in school, I drew sketches of my cities, which I applied as soon as I came home. I visited a prehistoric version of a chat room and discussion forums for gaming strategies. Again, feelings of addiction, empowerment and completely fascination overwhelmed me.

It was at this time I discovered CompuServe, Prodigy and America Online 1.0.

I’ve always loved characters and language; after all I was an actor for 4 years, which made instant messaging was the ultimate satisfaction. This was in the early days, perhaps the halcyon days, of AIM, before LOL, JK or BRB were commonly used terms. I remember finishing my homework after school, still in middle school mind you, and immersing myself in stranger’s worlds’ online. What I liked most about the whole process was the opportunity to discover someone, and in turn, to be discovered. People confided in me. They revealed their hope and their desires. Some even shared mundane details, while other invented or reinvented themselves. I caught on quick, and love the ways in which language; tone and pace determined online identity.

When I began High School, people were slowly catching on to IM. Those of us who had screen names were still classified as geeks. I began speaking with a handful of similar predisposed geeks online, some from my school. We’d gossip, exchange homework assignments and find satisfaction from our communication, as if we were children thrilled to share a private message with each other by a string telephone.

I realized the instant messaging formed one of the most addictive communities to which anyone could belong. One night, I went over to my friend Sarah’s house to find her mother staring blankly at the screen. She said nothing and did not acknowledge that we entered the room even. However, every 5 or so minutes, she’d laugh and talk to herself about a joke or comment shared in her chat room. I’m not sure she ever slept, and to this day I can see how strung out she looked basking in the artificial screen light.

My first online community was the Harvard University Class of 2003 list serve. We exchanged thoughts about current events and ideas, and it turned into a social group that I still enjoy to this day. What made it so effective was how excited and desired to find out and share information about college, prior to attending it, and they turned to each other for that information. People composed entries as if they were blogs. True friendships were forged and social groups made, which actually had an impact into the ways in which relationships developed our freshmen year of college.

In college, I communicated with instant messenger and on online communities like Facebook, Friendster and Myspace. Instant messenger was an effective resource for turning classroom crushes into offline interests, or acquaintances into friendships. Here’s how it would unfold:

In class, study groups formed. People shared their screen names rather than their phone numbers, and often times, those screen names were left on throughout the night. Sometime, I would instant message a classmate late at night to commiserate about a problem set. While we may start our conversation over academics, often times we began speaking about a variety of other topics which we would never address in person. This ranged from personal details to family history, and the next day in class, our chemistry would entirely change.

At the time, I used Friendster and Myspace as I way to invite people to get to know me online. I placed a link in my IM profile and enjoyed knowing that people were visiting my site, which either found my fascinating or were searching for my information. There was mystery, then, and things to reveal, which is why these communities worked so well. I remember receiving several phones calls from friends asking my opinion about their ‘romantic prospect,’ by directing my to her Friendster page.

I never really got into Friendster or Myspace. I have 100s of friends on each, and a great profile, but it was something used to support my IM presence, not to supplement it.

Things changed with the Facebook.com, and online community both simple and relevant. Talk about viral marketing, in 2003 it swept through campuses like wild fire. The facebook is restricted to college student email addresses only, and college students referred each other to sign up. Within a matter of months, it felt like most the school was online. Students formed subcultures inside the facebook and created online clubs to celebrate popular cult icons. Many students became obsessed with collecting friends. Others were content to share comments with their closely constructed social group. This community is a sociology case study in the making. In the 2 years I’ve been a member, the Facebook has grown from a community of 1000s to 5.4 million and expanded from a handful of college’s to over 2200. They are even expanding into high schools.

Facebook has become so pervasive that many colleges are holding special seminars encouraging their students to be mindful of what they publish – as future employers may consult the site.

Since that time, no online community has caught my attention. Either has IM for that matter. While it’s novel to IM with co-workers, and everyone goes through a Link-IN or Ryze phase, I haven’t connected myself to anything that provided that sense of communal identification and utility online. I’ve exploring photo sharing (i.e., Flickr and company), and even Dogster.com, for Pet enthusiasts. My latest interest is with Avitars. Imaging chatting as a programmable cartoon character with strangers online whom you can kiss, hug, touch and dance. I’m sure it’s just a fade, but you may enjoy it: http://www.imvu.com/.

When I think to the periods of my life when participating in an online community was much useful, several observations come to mind:

à A rich online life did not necessarily diminish my involvement in offline activities. In fact, many times it provided opportunities to create friendships and reveal information that was not otherwise available.

à My involvement in online communities piqued when people continuously commented on my profiles, or I used my profile to share a side of myself that I do not reveal offline.

à There is distinct difference in meeting someone offline that connected with first online, than referring someone’s online profile who you know offline first. I’ve found it easier to accept new insights about acquaintances I have already met than to accept friend I am meeting offline for the first time who differs greatly from my expectation.

The chief question I have right now is post college (post friendster, myspace and facebook), beyond professional networking and traditional photo sharing, is there an online community that can appeal to my demographic, or does the +25 demo not as inclined to be involved in online communities, because of their interests and life stage?

I am embarking on a new venture to address that question. I’ll share the findings as we discover them.