The Web Is Toon Town
In Robert Zemeckis' "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", a Dr. Suess like world co-existed called Toontown. It was a bright, cherry place where only good (often sillyness) seemed to spring from anything including Eddie's car accident. Believe it or not, a place like Toontown exists in the here and now.
A friend commented yesterday that the press continues to paint a bleak picture of our economic challenges and for good reason — many have and continue to lose their jobs, houses and dreams. But the strange thing is, social networks like Facebook and Twitter are teaming with communities of avatars that are exploding exponentially. Information is flowing freer and faster than ever. If information were currency, the gold rush is the Internet.
The atmosphere of these self-reporters of life on the social networks is very different than what comes from the broadcast press. Sure people talk about how they lost their jobs but then a post is immediately followed up by 15 posts of "what can I do to help" or "you'll get a job, hang in there".
This alternate reality feels like the pulse of the real world plain and simply because people are logging their thoughts, opinions and whats-happenings in truthful and connected clarity.