Why costume parties are more fun in-person

The sociologist Erving Goffman once noted that any social encounter is to be understood by the 'functioning of the 'membrane' that encloses it,' (1961: pp.79).

Over the weekend I had to cancel my attendance at a get together with friends - a Halloween costume party. From all details the event was a happy and silly occasion - pineapples were strewn on the floor. Men were dressed as flamingos. What's not to love. So, how do I know such fun was had? Because Facebook, Twitter etc. tells me so. I have had no 'real' contact with those friends who donned silly wigs and so forth and did go along, but according to the various snippets of news from Status Updates, feeds and so forth, I 'know' that things were a resounding and fun filled success. If left a bit disturbing after a PVC 'incident'.

But how does this relate to Goffman and his 'functioning' social 'membrane''? Goffman was writing about Fun in Games. Excluded from the fun, my attachment to the functioning membrane of the encounter was made more permeable by my being able to have an absent presence.

So, rather than being 'cut off' from the sociability that give particular events - such as the party above - weight, these can be shared out amongst those who were there, as well as those who were not, but should have been, in attendance. This meant I bought the costume, I dressed up, I wasn't there, but to all intents and purposes I can share and 'live out' some of the happenings. Just not the chaffing of the PVC.

Thus with social media, we remain at all times - should we choose - connected to the various occasions and friends of our social lives. In doing so, we seek to dispel the myth of the socially disconnected and those more tortured sets of individuals who are in effect 'cut off' from one another. Here then, a new set of rules apply. These lay down the types of behavior and influence that can be given to the allocation of socially realised encounters. Hence, if an individual is absent from one occasion they can - in effect - remain 'spontaneously' involved. In this way technology provides a sustainable social platform from which to perpetuate the stability of selective relationships as we choose to move either closer, or further away from whatever social interludes and/or people that take our fancy.

Our goal is to be at ease with one another, as they may be stabilised on the one hand and then become unbalanced on another. Indeed, as any user of Facebook, Twitter etc. should know, any inaccurately maneuvered interaction immediately pokes through the thin membrane of our social reality. So when the likes of Lily Allen et al. rant on Twitter, we are amused, but also this is displaced within our social sphere. We have no personal claim or connection to that person. But we are curious and want to ride out the distractions of others...

Where does this leave us then? In short attend that party. The PVC incidence is more funny in-situ.

TEDx trepidation

In the spirit of 'ideas worth spreading', I have been asked to present at TEDxManchester (with thanks to Ian Forrester @BBC Backstage).

x, because this represents an independently organised event. Albeit with a BBC edge.

This will be my first TED. This will also be the first time I have ever been asked to contribute without a good sense of who the other speakers are, what direction the day will take, or the connection to audience – in my mind the most important part of any conference, unconference or otherwise. Let alone the size of the event itself. This is self-organisation on a small-to-many-scale. And I am as yet unsure as to my role, or the expectations and development of sustained interest with the others whom I hope to encounter. My only regret is that I will have to rush back to York before the close of day for more presentations and various interviews from a North East based.

As technology is my thing it seems only natural that these form the main thrust of my talk. As the pace of everyday life accelerates with various social technologies, my key question is whether we have a better handle of ourselves and/or of others? Social platforms in particular are a central part of what Castells tied together as 'networked lives'. This is a central issue beyond the rise of a technological modernity, which has thrust us into social sensibility that is as rapid, in terms of updates and change, as it can be tumultuous.


To make sense of this type of social existence I suggest these are the signs of the times where the immediacy – the combination of at-once-connection to others and the ubiquitous nature of social media – emerge as core features, which are supposedly under, but never ever completely, our control.

My aim is to draw attention to the coming and arrival of social information in our lives. Thus, the anticipation of reciprocated connections inexorably change how we (should) think about social media, networks, sociability and behavioural practices. In short, such change has already and shall continue to revolutionise our social and cultural rules, rituals and values. But are we ready for that?...

And is TEDx ready for a 'social scientist'... social media analyst or otherwise.

Whatever happens on the day I'm excited to be meeting - such is the advantage of being a Speaker - Herb Kim a figure-head in technology circles and who has more than one 'idea worth spreading'.