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| If You Enjoy One Or More Of The Following: |
| KITTY POO! |
| NOT DICK |
| CREEPY NAKED GUY |
| TEXAS |
| TIGHT SWEATERS |
| SNOOKI |
| HEARTS |
| SWALLOWING YOUR GUM |
| GETTING SOME |
| JARGON |
| Click The Links
And Read This 'Zine! |
| Making Your Internet Life As Exciting As Your Real Life | |
| The Ins-and-Outs of Some "Other " Social Networking Sites | |
| By Jaime Karpovich | |
 |
I
have a confession. I’ve dated people I’ve met through
the internet. (((*Cringe*))) Oh wait, it’s 2011 and totally
NOT embarrassing anymore! If online dating commercials are to be believed, one in five couples now meet online. Heck, my mom met my stepdad online and then sealed the deal when they got married on national TV while in Vegas. (Love those Discovery Channel reruns!) Social Networking, in all it’s forms, is helping love-lives worldwide while providing hilarious Worst-Date-Ever stories all along the way. I do believe that despite the claim that so many people are “disconnected,” we are, in fact, more in touch with the WORLD than ever. At Left: At least with video chat, you can be CERTAIN that the singles you're chatting with aren’t exactly the age/height/weight they claim to be. |
| Sites like Facebook have provided information
and instant gratification. I have used it to seek help on everything
from gardening tips to the best area doctors, and within hours I have
an entire list of helpful tips or experienced suggestions. With that comes the ability to connect to friends—including those we have never met in person—without geography or phone bills getting in the way. While it doesn’t take the place of face-to-face time, it allows us a glimpse into the lives of friends (or that cute comedy show host we saw at the bar last weekend and finally found out is a friend of a friend; privacy settings be damned!) But if others’ status updates have been boring the hell out of you lately (ie. 24/7 sports mumbo-jumbo), try any of these on for size. ChatRoulette.com - Remember the movie Richie Rich, in which Macaulay Culkin plays a tween with millions and millions of dollars, and sits in a fancy chair in front of a huge monitor and it turns out to be a TV/CAMERA PHONE? And he can SEE who he called in real time? And it BLEW YOUR MIND? Oh—no biggie, that’s a standard free feature online nowadays. Hop on this website, flip on your camera and let the internet pick a random video-chat friend for you. (Here’s a secret: There’s an 80% chance it will be a creepy naked guy.) Intent.com - If you’re looking for personal wellness and positivity, or need someone to hold you accountable for that personal resolution, Intent.com will be a welcome change from sometimes shallow networking sites. Log on daily and post your intent (“I am going to stop taking it personally when people are so grouchy,” for example). You can get supporters and encourage others in their self-improvement quests.  Shelfari.com - Take your book snobbery to the next level by posting your entire personal library online in a neat format. Virtual bookshelves allow you to organize titles in categories you make up, review books, then allow everyone in the community to complain about how hipster it is to like Dave Eggars, or to bemoan steampunk fiction becoming “trendy”. Behind all the nerd drama you can find people with similar taste and add a few actual paperback books to your collection. Someone else likes dark fiction about carnival sideshows with coming-of-age protagonists? Awesome! Meetup.com - If you’re ready to expand your social circle beyond the internet, Meetup.com can help you meet Real! Live! People! in your area to get together and try a new restaurant, see a concert or have a vegan dinner party. It sounds like something made up by perverts trying to lure people into joining a gardening club, but Meetup.com is a legit source. I’ve personally been out and seen various meetup groups pass through, from coffee shop tours of Bethlehem to taking in a play at the theatre. |
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