Summer's over! But that just means that I'm one step closer to finally completing my collection of dystopian science fiction stories,
"In-Futura". I'm now on to the final five stories in
Part III: Meaning. The second story in this series explores the meaning of friendship in the world of extreme social networking, in
"Your Stock is Rising".
In the age of social networking, one overarching trend is that we've got too many friends, so many, in fact, that our social networks have become bloated, and the majority of our friends have become commodities, not any different than the rest. In addition, different members of our social network have different values, based on how active they are within the network, how many friends they have in their own network, and how much influence they have over those friends. In a way,
the value of one's social network, and the people within it, increases our own value - just like currency. What if, just like with money, we could trade the members of our network with those who seek to add them to theirs? What happens when our friends, and contacts, become bargaining chips? From this line of thinking came the story of
"Your Stock is Rising".
Here is the synopsis:
In the future... friends lists, connections, and social networks have become valuable commodities that are exchanged like stocks by schizophrenic traders hoping to bolster their social portfolios. After the best young trader on the block, David Crane, receives a mysterious offer from one of the most powerful puppet masters of the social economy, he's eager to accept. But the exchange soon teaches him a lesson on the true meaning of friendship and the prophetic words "Your Stock is Rising".
Status:
PUBLISHED on StaticMovement.com! Click here to read the story.
