On the one hand I’m aghast; on the other I’m a bit intrigued. For those of you not familiar with the finer points of MySpace, the social-networking site allows you to approve “friends” in your network so you can communicate back and forth and, in turn, meet even more friends. And for many, the amount of friends one has equals how important you are. So it is both sad–and yet, from a pure business standpoint, sort of savvy–that a new site lets you rent “friends.”
Not supportive or intellectually stimulating friends. Who needs those? Through Fake Your Space, an all-too-apropos name for the business, the proposition is busty, hot, hard-bodied friends. The company’s tagline is, after all, “bringing popularity to the masses.” Yep, it’s high school all over again in cyberspace (where did I store those pom-poms?).
Personally, I think buying friends is far more destructive to one’s psyche than not having any– but it’s been profitable. FakeYourSpace was doing very well, attracting 50,000 hits a day, selling “friends” for 99 cents a month each. The friends will also send you messages–so they look like “real” friends while looking good.
According to founder Brant Walker, the idea is to “to turn cyberlosers into social-magnets,” an idea that hit him when he noticed that, while browsing on MySpace, “some people would have a lot of good-looking friends, and others didn’t.” Whether based on want (we all want friends) or need (but do they need to be hot?), the business has found a market that sees value in the service.
Alas, there’s been a glitch, a service that provided the photographs of the models, iStockPhoto.com, noticed the use and balked.
But Walker argues the intent is altruistic not fraudulent. So FakeYourSpace will not be operational again until Thursday. I guess all the people with fake friends might just need to find some real ones in the interim–.
It’s sort of sad, yet it is clever, as you noted, ck. But it fits right into that aspect of our society that craves things either instant or beautiful — in this case, both.
As for me, I’m very disappointed. Until your post, I had been thinking that busty blonde in the little yellow bikini and the hooker heels was my friend. Damn.
(For the record, I have 1 friend at MySpace, and he’s the guy from MySpace who welcomes you when you join.)
David,
We have the same friend at MySpace–let’s have a party. (Truthfully, Tammy is also my friend, but I didn’t want you to feel bad.)
CK,
I joined MySpace at Tammy’s invitation but I don’t know what to do with it. That either says a lot about me or something about their products and services.
The amount of “friends” people (such as those with these beauts in their friends list) have on their MySpace pages has rendered a lot of the idea behind MySpace absurd. Most people can keep track of and meaningfully interact with somewhere between 120 and 150 people at any given time. This isn’t socializing. It’s self-promotion. And the results just aren’t plausible.
David: I deleted “Tom” as my default friend when I joined MySpace for the very reason that he wasn’t my friend (I thought that was “fake”).
.
Lewis: I have a MySpace page and it’s a fun layout but I do absolutely nothing with it. I find it limiting for my purposes whereas, like you, I find blogging here and at my own blog to be advancing–these are the friends I want to know (and, btw, smart is the sexiest attribute of all…so all our friends are hot
But the social-networking site brings value to other audiences spanning many demos (incredible really how many ages are active MySapcers) so it works for them. And now they can buy friends. Wild, but enterprising.
Ah, the American entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well. U-S-A, U-S-A! Oy…
Now I feel like an even bigger loser. I didn’t realize that I was supposed to have hot friends on MySpace (though I do). I guess I shouldn’t so quickly delete all the offers to join those porn site groups. Do you think those girls with “web cam sites” really like me? Maybe I was wrong about them?
I have always felt a little grossed out by MySpace. This just helps keep me grossed out.
Tim: Yeah, it’s gross but I’m sure this enterprising model doesn’t only rear its head in the U.S. I’d need to look around for other “like” examples but they’re out there.
While MySpace may not be Our Space, if we let the market be the judge this business idea has been profitable. I’m just saying that from an objective standpoint.
Buying friends is weird. I only collect bands I like. Sometimes I get requests from people wanting to be my friend…sometimes they’re music fans, sometimes they’re freaks. Yea for the fans, Nay for the freaks. I don’t have any hot body friends (except lewis) in my friend pool. I post everything I blog on Influential Foofaraw on my myspace blog. It’s an interesting crossover. I get more comments on my space usually.
I like myspace. I keep in touch with old friends and musicians. I blog. It’s fun. So that’s my two cents.
P.S. I linked my myspace page this time in the URL box. Stop by for a visit! I’m not a Mariah Carrey fan, it’s just a joke. You’ll understand if you visit. Cheers!
How pathetic is that? I find it unbelievable that this is what social networking has become. Popularity being bought and sold. There are no other words to describe this other than sad, really sad.
As sad as it is, I think it is perhaps a good lesson in out of the box thinking.
If this really is profitable, I am somewhat surprised it hasn’t carried over to a more tangible medium.
For examepl, cell phones. Why not pay .99 cents to have a text message sent to you during “busy” hours of the day so it seems like people are actually ‘txting’ you. Take it further and do phone calls. It’s basically the same audience.
Actually, I think it’s really smart. I have no need to buy friends but it’s kind of funny. Imagine if you had something like this in high school. Plus after a while everyone will know you’re buying friends and call you on it. Then you can laugh and say “Hey it was worth a shot.”
Actually, I think it’s really smart. I have no need to buy friends but it’s kind of funny. Imagine if you had something like this in high school. Plus after a while everyone will know you’re buying friends and call you on it. Then you can laugh and say “Hey it was worth a shot.”
Rose: I see your view. It is sad–like I said on the one hand I’m just aghast. But on the other…in letting the market be the judge…it is looking to be a successful business model that’s fulfilling a want or need. It’s sad that the need is there, I agree. I’m just trying to vette it objectively.
.
Nathan: Not sure why it’s not been carried to other media–especially texting. Maybe that will be a line extention of Fake Your Space once they get back up and running.
Tammy: On the company’s site there is a section detailing how others won’t know. I’m not sure how others couldn’t know since you have like 5 “model-like” friends but I guess the people aren’t caring about looking good in front of classmates as much as people from other areas. Not sure how to answer that one since I’ve never been one for fake friends
I’m actually happy for the small number of friends I have on MySpace, because they’re real. I also belong to a email-Q&A-community for graphic arts in LA, the MP book club (yay!), and some others for hiking, volunteering, spirituality.
Authenticity in all personal brand interactions, is paramount to well-rounded unconsciously ethical individuals. Everything else is novel & surreal.
I like it. MySpace is not even a blog platform, it’s just a hook up service that smells of junior high locker room and sweat.
“6 million poor kids hawking their mediocre music to 6 million other poor kids” as my friend Dieter Kiefer has asserted.
I suspect that a lot of so-called profiles and sexy photos have been fake from the very beginning of MySpace, the toilet of the sleazy Murdoch niche of the blogosphere.
I know I’m potentially setting myself up for something awful here, but this isn’t too dissimilar from Catch27.com.
Replacing the pretense of “social networking” with a combination of randy innuendo, scavenger hunt, and *sigh*, go fish” it literally asks folks to commodify themselves as one of nine “types” of cards, and form commections/affinity through signing up friends and making trades; with the potential to reap unknown rewards and prizes by building stacks of related cards along using any number of characteristics they may have in common. When you don’t have any (or enough) people, you can “buy” a stack of three “wax coated cards” for $0.99.
Don’t ask why I know about this. I try to be as out of the loop as posible…
Makes you glad for a community and awareness like your site offers, CK. Great discussion and thanks.
Sadder yet, is that they now know we shape our brains (and therefore lives and cultues) based on what we do in a day. Our culture is being shaped by URLs as we speak. That makes your post even scarier – if you consider the shaping of a community in these ways. Something for more thought – and so glad you raised the issue!
Not so long ago I finally got a hyves, never do anything with it though. They have a limit of 150 friends I think.
Anyway, if it is all image that counts then having a hundred cool-looking friends will seem like much, but well does it actually count in real life?
Either you do something like that for the fun of it, or you do it because you feel left out or something and then you have to pay…
Btw in regards to this, about 3 months ago there was this article in our local paper based on research in psychology. This research concluded that in the first 30 seconds of meeting someone you form an opinion. This opinion will stick with you quite long. (the research stated that after 5 years people still saw the other in similar light as after 30 seconds).
Point is how would the web friends alter this impression and would it still hold that after 5 year the same opinion is held?