Rollins students, if you are like me you recently checked your e-mail and found a message from Gotootie… and then immediately deleted it.Well, it turns out this e-mail was not just a promotional attempt by our friends from Tutti Frutti, rather an entirely new social networking group for Rollins and UCF students.
According to the makers of Gotootie.com, “Whether you’re at Cornell Hall, McKean Hall (sic) or having a nonfat Macchiato at Starbucks on Park Ave., you’ll be able to instantly discover, share and connect with other students in your surroundings from your laptop computer.”
Nice try Gotooie, but it seems as though someone beat you to the punch. His name is Mark Zuckerberg and he created a little something we all know as Facebook. However, it is interesting that this program is created to cater to Rollins and UCF students exclusively.
The way Gotootie describes its site is reminiscent of Twitter as well. People can go on and “share links, make requests, leave comments about a class or tell people what is going on in your dorm – simply select the appropriate category and share.”
The problem I see with this is it is simply another way for our already small community to “stalk” and “lurk” each other at an even closer range than with Facebook or Twitter.
The truth is I am just as guilty as every other Facebooker when it comes to lurking around my friends on the site. However, it seems as though stalking has become the sole purpose of social networking sites. In fact, Gotootie even advertises that one of its main purposes is to share “gossip” within the community. I worry that rather than joining the community together, sites of this nature tear us apart.
On a grander scale, Gotootie simply adds to the concept that people are no longer communicating face to face. Why have conversations when you can shoot someone a text? Why go out of your way to set up a meeting when you can inbox someone?
In my opinion, we have a disastrous communication dilemma on our hands. Again, I am guilty of these interpersonal faux pas, but I think it is important that we at least realize what sites and programs like Gotootie are doing to us as a group and work to reconnect more with people and less with our Internet browser.
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