when the internet began, my internerd friends and I used to hang out at a website based on a hotel. there was a ballroom, a library, a bar, a hotel lobby, regular rooms and penthouse suites. and it was really effective because in The World, we go to places and those places define us. I enjoy bars, but I especially enjoy small bars with a lot of character. I enjoy galleries, but I especially enjoy modern galleries. I prefer a busy city to a quiet city, and I absolutely prefer city to country. and these preferences/interests transferred well to the fake hotel. strangely enough, I ended up meeting the most interesting people in the fake library - literature students, writerly types.

Facebook and everything else can ask us about our interests as much as they like, but they're only ending up as links on our user profiles, where you can click through and see everyone else who likes peas. or Björk. not that useful. Second Life &etc has the notion of places-to-find-people, but basically it's awful to use. I wish there was a small fake country online that had 2 cities, one bigger than the other, countryside, bars, museums, cafés, restaurants, raves, libraries, schools, parks, kindergartens; all of the social places that you might go. and that it wasn't just a lame graphics-based thingy for kids.