| title |
Myfrienemies.com |
| Published | 2007 |
| exhibitions |
Edith-Ruß-Haus für Medienkunst |
| Archive | archive link |
Myfrienemies was created during the era of Friendster, Myspace, and early Facebook. The website's premise was to "meet people who pretend to like the same people as you." Unlike other social media platforms at that time, there was no browsing of user profiles. Instead, users were asked to enter the name of a frienemy (kept anonymous), and then they were matched with other users who had entered the same frienemy, based on first name, city, and occupation. Visitors to the site could also read anonymous testimonials based on personality types, such as "hostile aggressives" or "eager-to-pleasers."
In contrast to the multi-billion dollar companies that dominate today's social media landscape, Myfrienemies was designed with the assumption that abuse was the norm and took extreme measures to protect users from online harassment. The site was live for a year, and fortunately, the negativity was limited to office and roommate gossip.
