Facebook's "25 Random Things"

Of course, you're all well-versed in the note, "25 Random Things," by now. But my friend actually just sent me this Slate article, and it is actually really intriguing! The goal, albeit an unrealistic one, was to track down the "creator" of the note. While no person was ever found and credited with birthing the note, over 3000 Slate people responded to a series of inquiries regarding "25 Random Things." The results, according to the Slate journalist, reveal a trend that resembles the "classic exponential growth of an epidemic curve."

Apparently, the trends revealed in the recorded posting and sharing of "25 Random Things" corroborates the hypothesis that catchy online ideas propagate according to evolutionary principles of mutation and selection. I think this only has a chance of holding true if the "ideas" are short enough to catch a user's attention, and entertaining enough to warrant a passing on. In any case, this might be useful to anyone doing research on social dynamics and Facebook. It definitely says a lot about the evolution of culture, whether virtual or in real life.

Daedalus Project: Guild Demographics

I noticed on the syllabus that we'll be reading Yee's "The Social Life of Guilds in World of Warcraft" next week. From Nick Yee's website, I thought that these figures might prove useful for anyone looking into broader guild relations and demographics.

http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/archives/001635.php?page=1

What I found most interesting was the first chart on page three of the study, that supports the theory of MMOs maintaining real life social connections. Findings showed that a majority of players surveyed (59%) joined guilds where they knew someone in real life (defined as someone the player knew before joining the guild).

This is a startlingly statistic for me because, as an outsider, I was always given the impression that the "guild" sphere was built upon relationships formed entirely online. In the past, the idea of grouping "guild members" and "friends" in the same category was challenging for me to understand. I feel I should also note that this perspective is strengthened by myself falling victim to an absolutely terrifying incident of "web-rage" escaping into the real-world more than three years ago.

Regardless, I do feel that these figures have given me deeper insight into guild demographics, and I do intend on researching guilds further for my study.