Antisocial networking
The problem with social networking is, if done right, everyone you know’s on it.
Which makes complaining about them something of a conundrum. Offend them, or stew in silence? Or — possibly the worst of both worlds — refer to whatever you’re miffed at in such vague terms that everyone starts getting annoyed?
This is why we need antisocial networks.
On these networks, we can guarantee people we don’t know are listening, rather than people we do. In a way, the various ’secret’ sites fulfil this function, but they don’t so much allow for sympathy and conversation. What we really need is something that almost but not quite mirrors our existing social networks, so people connect with similar interests and the like, the only caveat being you mustn’t already know each other so you can both complain about your job/your housemates/your best friend/your sister/your WoW guild in peace.
I guess you could emulate it all by just creating other accounts, but where’s the fun in that?
I started a twitter account once, not for my friends and not to socialize. Just: whenever a bit of technology had me screaming at it, I’d hammer out a tweet. I set myself rules that every tweet had to be at least a little misspelt and have some swearing in it. Bonus points for both. It calmed me down immmensely.