Hypercompendia

Without yet getting into the statistics of how many and who–let's just say there are a lot–subscribes to the various services of online gaming and posting, I've been considering the interaction within groups as well as the individual adjustments one may make in presenting an online personality. Is it so very different than the mental calisthenics we go through just walking out our front door every morning?

From our toddler days onward we learn that behavior must be modified to suit society. Basically I believe that we approach our own molding of beliefs, ideals, goals, and interactive dealings with a conform or rebel attitude on each new event experienced. But even rebels get lonely.

What social networking on the internet allows is a meeting place for that rarity, a mind that matches our own patterns and interests and passions that we don't find in our family circle or schoolmates and co-workers. Very often, the real "you" comes out not in the nine to five cubicle, where in fact the roleplaying is switched on, but rather it is in the private at-home segment of our lives where Sir Lancelot or Dr. Manhattan emerge. With a click of a mouse, we can freely walk in a world without the mask we don in public. And, we can take it as far as we care to expand.

There is a basic human need for companionship and internet-based groups are in such proliferation and diversity that we're bound to find a place to fit in. One of the main reasons for a weblog to go belly-up is the difference between expectations and the reality of visitors to the site. We need to be loved. We seek approval. If we're being true to ourselves on our blogs, it's as hurtful to see non-acceptance or a lack of enthusiasm as not being invited into the circle of the perceived in-crowd of reality. But if the freedom of anonymity online makes us suddenly dare to be terribly witty, erudite, perceptive, or outrageous, and it brings us an audience, well, that's where the heart will linger.

There is a double-edged sword to the creation of an online persona however. Deep down inside we know that our "friends" are either rather easily fooled, or if we're presenting our souls, that these people will never feel the touch of our hand, see our smile (caveat here, since images and video are a part of many services). Or worse, that nobody likes us online either.