|
There is another internet website that allows the same kind of association-making that keeps the writers of Assoziations-Blaster busy – Friendster. Those with an account, usually by invitation of a friend with an existing account, ask their friends to join, or add other friends with existing accounts to their list. In turn, these friends have other friends in their list, and their friends have other friends, thus creating a network of friends. There are degrees of friends – a friend of a friend of a friend makes a third degree friend. Each friendster writes a profile, describing themselves, what their interests are, what favorite movies they've seen or books they've read, and a list of qualities they'd like to see in a fellow friendster. The degrees allow friendsters to restrict access to their profiles to only close friends (second- or third-degree friends), and the web site can be used to facilitate relations out of cyber space – hot dog at Coney Island, coffee at the Starbucks around the corner, or, for homosexuals, another forum for a casual hook-up.
Friendsters can also <<bookmark>> other friendsters' profiles. These are for the incredibly shy who fancy a friendster, but can't get the nerve to reach out and send a message. So they create an alternative, secret network of friends that they don't show to anyone. Those friendsters that have been bookmarked don't even have to know that they've been bookmarked (if they did, they'd find out eventually – why not send a message?) They can keep an imaginary relationship with a veritable harim of lovers.
|
