New apps put the hate in online networking - The Boston Globe - 0 views
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Now that Internet users have forged online relationships with the people they like, they can turn their attention to shaming the folks they hate.With Enemybook, a new program that runs on the social networking site Facebook, you can connect to people you loathe, display their photos and evil deeds, and give them the virtual finger.Enemybook is one of several new online applications developed by computer-savvy twentysomethings who say they are tired of bogus online friendships. In a dig at the notion of virtual networking, they hope to encourage people to undermine, or at least mock, the online social communities sites such as Facebook were designed to create.
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"People are yearning to express the ridiculousness of some of the features of Facebook -- having all these friends that aren't genuine," Matulef said. "For some people, Enemybook is about expressing their distaste for political figures or celebrities. And for other people, it actually is about spreading hatred for their despised co-workers and exes."
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Bryant Choung, 26, a software engineer in Washington, D.C., who created the program, said he was bothered that Facebook had become little more than an online popularity contest and designed Snubster to provide "a backlash against the ridiculous phenomenon that was social networking.""It's nice because Snubster was supposed to be a parody of Facebook, and by being able to work directly in and around Facebook makes it work so much better," Choung said.