TechCrunch has the story of Social Roulette, which launched on Saturday. Like indicated by its name, Social Roulette claims that by playing it, you have “a 1 in 6 chance of deleting your account, and a 5 in 6 chance that it just posts ‘I played Social Roulette and survived’ to your timeline.” From the site:
Everyone thinks about deleting their account at some point, it’s a completely normal reaction to the overwhelming nature of digital culture. Is it time to consider a new development in your life? Are you looking for the opportunity to start fresh? Or are you just seeking cheap thrills at the expense of your social network? Maybe it’s time for you to play Social Roulette.
No word on whether or not it was supposed to post anything shortly before it deleted your account. And, sadly but unsurprisingly, Facebook has already blocked it.
My brother deleted his Facebook account last year and recently rejoined, vowing to “be friends with less classmates from high school.” I think about deleting my account every day, and Social Roulette might just have been the ultimate way to do it. Instead I’ve just been checking it less, and since I’m someone who considers myself “a writer,” I justify its continued existence by saying that it’s “a platform,” because I read somewhere that publishers like a writer to have that sort of thing.
Have you deleted your Facebook account? Have you deleted your Facebook account and then gone back? What say you, Blogtown?
If you just take a second to unfollow all the people who annoy you, it’s really pretty benign. Beyond that I would find it difficult to disengage completely because it’s such a shared reference and virtual meeting point.
I know this is the new “I don’t even own a TV” thing, but I just can’t into social media. I have the accounts but who has the time to interact or engage with all those platforms? The precious few hours I’m not at work or in sweet, sweet slumber are spent doing the other tasks which keep my life running. And then being an uxorious dude if I have spare minutes.
I mean, just trying to keep up with my favorite podcasts makes me anxious. (Incidentally, Graham, thank you for recommending HDTGM a long time ago).
If there’s one reason to have a Facebook account, it’s for convenience to actual friends. It’s a lot easier to just make an event and send invites than to call/text everyone individually when you’re having a party or trying to get a group to do something.
Until every one of those fuckers clicks “maybe”.
Oh and Social Roulette sounds stupid. Just delete it or don’t.
In February I deleted my 6-year-old account with about 500 friends on it. I was becoming an oversharing/overposting case study for virtual interactions replacing real-life interactions, among other things (including the ‘too many acquaintances from high school’ thing) and it made me feel like a tool who was out of control of my own basic actions and lifestyle. On top of that, I was reading ‘Lean In’ by Cheryl Sandberg (Facebook’s C.O.O.) and it dawned on me that my Facebook profile, the virtual life connected to it, and the subsequent deterioration of privacy–and my complicity in all of it– were helping this woman and her colleagues remain very, very wealthy.
So I deleted that old profile and took a 2 month break… and it ruled. I didn’t miss anything major, I was able to reconnect with friends in meaningful ways, and I felt generally more relaxed with an increased sense of privacy. But then, despite the above-stated epiphany, I created a new, tiny account so I could view some events and groups-related features on Facebook. And some of my real-world friends have found me, fb friended me, and the cycle begins anew.