Online togetherness

My last post described how I'll be taking some time off from social networking sites for a while. I'm still continuing the experiment, and once the month is up (April 9th), I'll write a decent post about my experiences. I'm mentioning the experiment, however, because it hinges on one assumption: that using these social networking sites makes people uneasy and that having one online profile to represent you is unnatural.

It's a pretty one-sided assumption to make.

So to avoid coming off as one of those culture critics who only see the Internet as evil, I've decided to devote today's post to... PostSecret!

Most of you college kids already know what PostSecret is, but for the uninitiated: PostSecret is a blog of sorts, run by Frank Warren. It started off as a small community art project where people were asked to anonymously mail in postcards with a secret, but word traveled and the project expanded to include postcards from all over the world. Every Sunday, Frank Warren posts a selection of the week's postcards on his website. Four years, four books, and several nationwide tours later, PostSecret is still in the top twenty most popular blogs.

What I like about PostSecret is its ability to bring people together in a truly anonymous way. Frank Warren has comments disabled for the blog itself (though there is a PostSecret Forum at a different URL, for those inclined to discuss the secrets with others online). However, I'm not a member of the forum, and my involvement with PostSecret goes no further than reading it every week. (No, I haven't even mailed in my own secret! :) ) My own PostSecret experience is a passive one -- I'm able to appreciate the site without having to contribute anything to it. No username, no profile, nothing.

Of course, there are different degrees of involvement with the site. While I've been a mostly passive participant, PostSecret becomes "interactive" media when someone mails in a postcard, sends an email to Warren, or posts in the forums.

In the end, I enjoy PostSecret for its flexibility: it is a fairly emotional form of entertainment that can be as anonymous or participatory as you want it to be.