To Know One Another

Mariann Daniel
Feb 28, 2008

It seems to me that the beginning of "Togetherness" focuses its reader on the aspect of knowing one another on the internet. The easiest way to give a face to a website is to make sure that you show personality and character within it. The reason people go on the websites to begin with are to connect with other people--humans they may have never met before--no matter the reason. The "Togetherness" essay also focuses on fame and what is being famous on the internet. Being famous on the internet does not have to consist of being known by millions of people, but a mere few hundred will do. And then those few hundred will pass on knowledge of your site to a few more and before you know it, your site may become just as famous as a celebrity. This is supported by Metcalfe's Law. The thing seems to be that you just need to keep your site personalized to actually connect with people. If it were not personalized, or if it were not helpful in some way, fulfilling a person's want, people would just no care about it.

The web connects people that normally would have limited time to connect in the real world, or would not connect at all. The "Togetherness" example is that of the Emily Dickinson Society meeting every first Tuesday, however, it states, if that meeting is missed, you are done for a month. On the internet people can meet daily to discuss what they like and what they do not like in reference to Emily Dickinson. There are other websites to, like dating website, that connet people together who otherwise would never have met. I have a friend who lives twenty minutes for his now girlfriend--they met on a dating site and would have never met otherwise. The point is, the internet connects people who had not other reason to connect before and would not have known about each other had it not been for that one site that linked them both.

I also like the point in the "Togetherness" essay that we, as individuals, choose to occupy--to explore and possibly set up residence--on the internet. We choose to find people who share our interests and we choose to become friends with such people. However if it were not for the initial web designer we could have come in contact with these new but interesting people we could call friends.