Anton Browne once stated, ‘The way I see it, Twitter is like a big cocktail party.’ This was right before he closed his account there.

There is more to his story but it does show what social networking really is or at least what it can become. Insert the name ‘Facebook’ or your former high school forum name and you basically have the same thing; one gigantic electronic, 24hour, 365day cocktail party. The beauty, or the ugliness of it all is that now all social interaction, because of this newfangled medium called the Internet, is instantaneous. Instead of having private conversations where connoted inflections are heard and discourse can be entertained, everything now is taken as denotative; what you say is electronically inked with a permanent marker. With a real cocktail party there is an end but here you can be ‘onstage’ all the time. And you best develop a thick skin if you don’t already have one because once you are on the Internet, you’re not in Kansas anymore. The Internet is one big, fast paced gut checker. Gilda, the Good Witch of the North, will not be around to entice you to click your heels together when things get tough.

Recently, Robert Ebert posted in his online journal an article written by someone on how electronic medium has replaced real life social interaction:

‘In a world where communication is achieved basically by keyboard strokes directed to a nickname on a computer screen, a lot of people end up forgetting that behind those nicknames there are human beings… Networks such as Facebook and Twitter only have one thing “social” about them: the fact they can establish virtual connection between people–but it’d be a huge mistake to believe that connection is anything but superficial.’
…
‘It’s very easy to be cruel, altruistic, passionate, generous or an activist on the Internet. But we don’t live on the Internet, do we?’

Like a cocktail party, social networks are made up of the same cross section of people you could imagine being at any gathering:  advocates of causes (armchair commentators), activists (people who are actually active in their beliefs), extroverts, introverts, soft and tough skinned, etc. The interaction is not all that different and can lead to conversations and comments that are mainly made to espouse one’s own determination on any subject and sometimes with the fervor of the staunchest religious follower. 

Adults after all, are only super-sized children. Granted, we have more responsibilities but essentially all we want to do is work, play, sleep, and once in a while, curl up next to someone and have some ‘nekkid’ time. And like children, we want validation on what we say, to have someone listen to us no matter what the topic. 

Like a cocktail party, I have worn a lampshade or two on my head, given into catharsis and said the wrong things and at the wrong times. I have even done what Anton had, given up on the projected reality of social networking when I couldn’t come to terms with the power of it all. But also like Anton, I finally understood how it simply comes to signify whatever you want it to and in so, lowered my expectations on the use of the medium.

Anton has returned to Twitter, I have traded my expectations of social networking for a more independent and realistic view. All I do now is log on, view other conversations, post something that may be banal or what I deem insightful, and wait for someone to pass the hor devours.