

Brave New World of Digital Intimacy - robg
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/magazine/07awareness-t.html?hp=&pagewanted=all

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gaius
I have a friend who's rabidly anti-Facebook, who says that if someone is his
real friend they'll phone him (presumably a hundred years ago he'd have been
rabidly anti-phone, his real friends would write him letters on parchment).
What FB does it it lowers the latency and friction of interactions _that would
happen anyway_. If I want to go to a restaurant, FB lets me know exactly how
many I actually need to book a table for just before I call them. If I'm
planning an event, everyone going gets a reminder and a map. If I want to send
someone a (real) birthday gift, it's an address book that updates itself.

What it might change is the real meaning of the word 'friend', or what it
implies - all you can tell from being FB friends is that you're in someone's
contact list. It doesn't really supplant real-world relationships.

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robg
Ask the author questions here:
[http://community.nytimes.com/article/comments/2008/09/07/mag...](http://community.nytimes.com/article/comments/2008/09/07/magazine/07awareness-t.html)

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waleedka
requires registration !!!

