Connecting Online with YA Readers (part 3)

Okay, one more installment on the young adult (YA) internet wielders.  After contacting my teenage spy network, I’ve located a few highly entertaining places the tweens and teens and lots of  over-eighteens seem to be hanging out.

Um, and I’m hooked now.  Maybe you all are already “hip” enough to be clued into these websites, but I’m an ancient 26-year-old, so bear with me.

I Love You Because

This is such a sweet site!  It tugged my heartstrings, and the 15-year-old in me was all like, “Aw.  I wish someone would make this for me.”  Then the 26-year-old in me was all like, “Um, someone did.  That’s why you married him.  Duh.”

PostSecret

Okay, I did know about this site.  I think it’s been around a while.  It’s an interesting concept — you share your  secrets anonymously with the world.  It’s an artistic way to get that load of your chest without anyone discovering the load was yours.  Clever.

Cleverbot

Woah.  Woah.  This is addictive and hilarious and ridiculous.  It’s an application that responds to you.  Check it out; you’ll be impressed.  Or at least you’ll chuckle some.

FAIL

More funny pictures from the Cheezburger group.  Hilarious, but sometimes uncomfortable.  I’m one of those people who never laughs when someone falls or gets hurt, but all the non-injury related FAIL images are laugh-out-loud-worthy.

FMyLife

Ah.  This will make you feel better about your life.  Or, if you’ve had a really sh***y day, you can head here and share it with the world.  Everyone gets to vote if your life really does suck or if you deserved what you got.

Dear blank, please blank.

It’s like Madlibs for the clever, upset, and concise.  Write your own little letter to someone you love or hate, and share it with the world.

My Life is Average

Ah, my favorite discovery. Share your tales of “average” daily existence — but it can’t actually be average.  It has to be above-average.  A tale to make the readers smile.  And, like FMyLife, readers vote if your life really is “average” or just meh.  Every time I go to this page, I get sucked in for far too long.

So, the thing I’ve noticed about each of these sights is that bite-sized information is key and sharing is the goal.  What does this say about the evolution of our society, I wonder…  Are we moving closer together in 140-character steps?  Or are we moving further apart by filling our social needs through anonymous internet connections?

Any thoughts?  Have you already been hooked into these sites for a while?

-S.