If you were to make a list of what’s popular on the Internet, random things would be number one. Lists would come in second.
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Out of this love of randomness and lists comes an unbelievably popular chain letter called 25 Random Things About Me, where any given Facebook user can be tagged with the duty of making a random 25-item list and then passing the obligation on to 25 friends. It’s a concept so rudimentary, it’s hard to grasp why it’s so trendy.
But then there’s that warning about not knocking without trying. So here is this week’s Web Jam as a 25 Random Things About 25 Random Things list.
1. There are 5 million of these random lists out there – 5 million!
2. Most have been created in the past two weeks – two weeks!
3. There are 40,000 search results on Google for random lists.
4. Facebook says it has not seen anything spread like these random lists in its entire history.
5. Tons of anti-random groups are popping up.
6. The New York Times says random lists are threatening free time and privacy. Um, Facebook is voluntary?
7. Time Magazine wrote about the phenomenon as “25 Things I Didn’t Want to Know About You.”
8. Huffington Post defends the lists, estimating that there are now more haters than list-makers. That’s hard to believe, but it’s refreshing to see someone stick up for these lists.
9. The tendency on these lists is to be very earnest. Perhaps that’s what triggers the hatred?
10. When and where the first list was written is presently unknown.
11. The list is a bona fide Internet meme. (A meme is something repeated ad infinitum on the Internet, FYI.)
12. Twitter cannot capitalize on this meme for obvious reasons.
14. I skipped 13. Like hotels do.
15. I’m tired of this already. Let’s talk about something else.
16. The Toronto Twitter Festival, or Twestival, happens today (Thursday, February 12, 7 pm to 1 am) at Circa.
17. Travel books can never be replaced by the Internet, because smartphones don’t get reception in rural Namibia.
18. Reading too much online hurts my eyes anyway. Well, haven’t seen the new Kindle yet.
19. Speaking of reading, I’m not sure I could get through many of these lists. I’ve only read a few.
20. The lists have spread to Toronto Craigslist, where they’re posted in place of personals.
21. It’s not surprising that random sex things come up in lists. Everyone always wants to talk about sex. Witness this issue.
22. P.S.: There’s nothing wrong with talking about sex that was just an observation. Moving on.
23. List-making can be therapeutic, suggest leading researchers.
24. I made that last one up.
25. I’ve always hated Facebook. It makes me anxious.
joshuae@nowtoronto.com
