Taking Two Pages from Facebook

This parody infomercial and this seriously cast video essay both treat Facebook as their main subject. With its e-Harmony send-up, the humorous video makes reference to another site for digital practices: online dating. It also points out how Facebook's relationship categories are shaping social networks in highly idiosyncratic ways that often emphasize casual sex over other forms of sociality, a point also made by Ian Bogost in "A Professor's Impressions of Facebook." The serious video by Vishal Agarwala uses information graphics in a way similar to conspiratorial videos about Google and other seemingly hegemonic forces that dominate market share in otherwise distributed media environments.