1 random thing you should know about the lifecycle of a fad…
…by the time most people have heard of it, it’s over.
And then it’s a drag.
I first noticed this phenomenon back when there was something called the magazine industry. In particular with regard to these magazines that were called Time and Newsweek. (Are they still published?) By the time something made it onto the cover of Time or Newsweek, especially if it was one of their “cultural trend” covers, it was over. In fact, I often wondered if it wasn’t the act of putting said cultural trend on the cover of Time or Newsweek that killed it: “Uh-oh. Now it’s on the cover of Time or Newsweek. I am outta here.”
So it goes with the recent — and now over — Facebook phenomenon called 25 Random Things You Should Know About Me. According to Slate, the shelf life of this internet flash mob was slightly more than that of a mayfly: about two months.
In those two months, here’s what I learned about some Friends:
- that one had had an earlier marriage
- that one wished he’d dated more when younger, but now thinks that door is closed
- a whole lot of favorite colors (mine is/was red)
- a whole lot of favorite movies (I couldn’t be bothered)
- a whole lot of favorite bands (this one I bit on in yet another feeble attempt to jump-start Pere Ubu’s CD sales and help pay for, well, their meals)
- not a whole lot that was truly interesting and memorable
I think the last item is because these “Random Things” tend to dwell in the realm of facts. And y’know, if facts were interesting to us, we’d all sit down and read the white pages of the telephone book. It’s full of facts. No, what’s interesting is stories. And stories come from conversation.
I’ve got something like 600 Facebook “Friends.” I even know some of them. I don’t think this Friend relationship is a substitute for friendship, and 25 Random Things are no replacement for a bottle of wine and some time spent together.
February 12th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
Bottle of wine? Don’t you mean a full shaker of vodka gimlets?
February 12th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
I found it especially hard to find enough things to fill in to make up the 25. I’m much more interested in exchanging anecdotes (hopefully funny ones) than in listing the statistics of my life. Oddly, though, I got tagged by two people to do this in less than an hour.
February 12th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
I got tagged to list my 25 random things but didn’t get around to it. I was skeptical. I don’t like fads or self-importance. But if I did write them out they would be interesting, original and funny. Or I could pick up a good bottle of wine and spend some time with you!
February 13th, 2009 at 6:17 am
I think my 25 things was, like, bitchin’, Man, and that you’re, like, jealous?
February 13th, 2009 at 9:52 am
You could also add FaceBook and LinkedIn as candidates for Over, and then there’s Wochner’s First Law: By the time you have 25 followers on Twitter, Twitter is over for you.”
FaceBook is The Saturday Evening Post of the twenty-first century.
February 13th, 2009 at 11:14 pm
I have a “here” and “back home” life mixed in my Facebookie crowd, and thought this might have been interesting… at first. But I spent half the shelf-life of this thing looking for the 25 questions to answer … or wondering if I was “tagged” if i just saw someone else’s… So, whew– this is over.