Social media has done something incredible on the Internet….it has managed to connect us on a level beyond its’ original intention, by creating serious profile addiction that spans the generation, economic, social, gender and preference gaps. Across lands and oceans, in rain or shine, we are all seemingly obsessed with Facebook, Twitter, and (if you are a 14-year-old girl who likes sparkly things) Myspace.
It is the great online unifier and also one of the most depressing shows of stupidity on the web, if you have ever checked out Lamebook or Failbook. Back in December, Google made it easier to find these gems of status update wisdom or human parody using their Realtime feature, a search element that shows a small section for search results that come from social networking sites.
But now, they have created a full segment of search engine called google.com/realtime, which is more or less an expanded version of the same idea. It gets its’ own page now, and already I have spent more time than I should have this morning fiddling around on it, putting random works into the search bar and looking at all the one-line status updates and the pictures of those who make them.
For people easily distracted and entertained like me, this service acts like a shot of web heroine for a tech junkie. I am a time waster by nature, because I prefer to just sit and think rather than be a responsible adult and do what I need to. Because of this, a shiny new search engine that will connect me to millions of random strangers who happen to be thinking the same thing as me at any given time is a dangerous possibility for procrastination.
I don’t think I am the only one. I am sure that at least one person who is reading this right now has already stopped at least once to go to that site and start searching themselves. Admit it.
You can even get status updates through a Google Alerts setting now, so they will bring the pointless but addicting search results to you without asking you to search! At this point you might as well just hook the info directly into a hole in the back of my neck, like in the Matrix.
I guess this post can be considered an official apology to everyone I work for. I will be busy Googling strangers all day.
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