Inherent absurdist and/or humorous possibilities for references to major social networking sites, 2000-present.
L O W
Twitter // Twitter is so absurd and audacious a concept to begin with that it’s nearly impervious to any type of irony. References to Twitter are rarely, if ever, funny. Jokes about why people would care about what other people had for lunch — as well as that joke’s sinister corollary, which is jokes about people joking about why people would care about what other people had for lunch — are some of the least funny types of jokes in circulation today.
Tumblr // “Tumblr” still remains, in many circles, basically Internet shorthand for “hipster.” This is completely ridiculous, since the heyday of Tumblr as a platform for underemployed New York City-based freelance journalists to share inside jokes with one another has long since passed. Regardless of the perception, you know how miserable humor about “hipsters” is. Generally best avoided, unless you’re consciously trying to come off as an asshole for the purpose of the reference.
Friendster // We are in the midst of a historic low point for Friendster references. A few years ago, offhand Facebook references could be considered reasonable and maybe even welcome. A few years from now, they may be again, depending on how the Facebook story seems to be shaking out. But at this point, why bother?
M E D I U M - L O W
MySpace // The absurdist possibilities of MySpace references are nullified somewhat by the fact that rock bands still seem to actively use it. Or does this make it more absurd? The iconic photograph of Tom remains amusing, all these years later — so, in fact, does the very idea of Tom, a man who claimed friendship with all he encountered. Equally amusing is the insane notion that if you gave users control over the HTML coding, they would use this power to create something beautiful. MySpace circa 2006 was one of the great repositories of outsider art in all of human history.
M E D I U M
Facebook // Too broadly experienced by too many to make much of an impact in terms of cleverness. But, like anything else we experience in our day-to-day lives on a regular basis — air, toilets, cars, birds — there is a small innate value to an offhand reference placed just right.
Orkut // Orkut is probably better-known as an intentionally obscure reference, often made for the sake of obscurity, than as something anyone has actually experienced firsthand. In North America, at least. In South America, it’s the equivalent of Facebook, and nudge-nudge jokes about Orkut would probably be read as light cultural imperialism. What an impossibly strange journey.
Classmates.com // So ubiquitous in pop-up advertisements for so long that a well-placed reference will generally elicit a chuckle.
M E D I U M - H I G H
Foursquare // Amusing, but only because mayors, in their top hats and morning coats and sashes that say “MAYOR” on them, are inherently funny.
Google Wave // For a company with a reputation as being positively juggernaut-like in its innovation, reach and influence, have you ever stopped to consider how many woolly-headed, flat-on-their-faces failures Google has been associated with? Google Buzz would also fit into this category.
H I G H
Dodgeball // A classic (and somewhat hilarious) case of too much, too soon. Extra points for a tragic, ridiculous backstory: predating Foursquare, and then being purchased by Google, and then being discarded almost immediately.
Makeoutclub // As the final wave of youth cultists born between 1975 to 1980 finally reach early middle age, the time for a bleary-eyed, nostalgia-crazed Makeoutclub revival is at hand. I am pretty sure I literally did make out with more girls as a direct result of using Makeoutclub during the summer of 2002 than any other social networking site listed here. For a certain subset of Internet user, in fact, this generally seems to be true. Extra points for the fact that it was Calvin Johnson’s sole presence in social networking circles for many years, and double points for odd, lingering rumors that he remains an active user to this day.
LinkedIn // As long as there is electricity in the Internet, there will never be a more hilarious social networking service than LinkedIn.
