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IM Someone: The Online Popularity Test
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Jordan "Jord" Vogt-Roberts, a 20-year-old film major at Columbia College Chicago, is part of that rarified company with more than 200 people on his buddy list. He has divided them into five categories that he calls "defcons."
"I was such a geek in high school, really big into conspiracy theories, and I think 'defcon' is a Department of Defense term," says Vogt-Roberts. "Defcon 1 is where I keep my four really good friends. Defcon 2 is about six people who I talk to on a regular basis. Defcon 3 to 5 are just randomly placed people I don't talk to very much."
Like so many people his age, Vogt-Roberts has had an AIM account since junior high. He prefers speaking face-to-face above all forms or communication, he says, but would rather instant-message than talk on his cell phone. When his family relocated from Royal Oak, Mich., to Mesa, Ariz., after the eighth grade, he kept in close contact with his buddies Matt ("the one who's really into metal music"), Tony ("the super witty guy"), Jon ("the artist of the group") and Jeremy ("the group's philosopher") through AIM. Before his senior year in high school, he moved back to Royal Oak.
So far, while chatting on AIM, he's "fought" against two screen names on AimFight.com -- his ex-girlfriend Kelly (he lost) and his friend Matt (he won).
"The more I played with it, the more it definitely had this neat little voyeur element to it, a nice little competitive element," says Vogt-Roberts. "It's a fun gimmick."
He types in five more screen names. "Well, if you think about it, the way this whole Aim Fight thing works, your worth is measured through other people." He realizes that he's only talking about instant messaging. "That's kind of messed up," he says. Then he types in two more screen names, testing their popularity.
Sitting in the smoke-filled SoHo Coffee House west of Dupont Circle, Ryan Jackson is doing what he does often: Web-surfing. In the course of five minutes or so on his laptop, he ranges from an article on "The Da Vinci Code" in http:/
"I'm sure plenty of people are getting a kick out of this," says Jackson, 19, biting on a chocolate croissant. He's had AIM -- "um, what, for like forever?" he says -- since he was 12 and has 62 people on his buddy list. Right now, 18 of his 62 friends are online. He types in his screen name and a friend's screen name. He wins. "I don't feel the need to judge my social standing," Jackson goes on, "by how many people I talk to, or talk to me, online."
Then he closes his AIM window, only to open it up again a few minutes later.
