Are you tired? Have a secret?

Mike Kuniavsky of San Francisco has a site called Tired.com and he is ready to "listen" to you.... if you are tired!

The Wall Street Journal covered it 3 days ago here called "'Are You Tired?' A Web Designer Asks.Don't Get Me Started" by Vauhini Vara and it was amazing to learn that in 9 years, Mike has recived 42,000 emails from people telling him their stories! These stories come from parents, kids and surfers and to me it is a very interesting insight into the behavioral trends of America (a personal interest and hobby of mine).

I thought this article tied in well with my prior post here on socializing - online and offline but also was very interesting since from the time I landed in the US (in 1999), one thing that was told to me with emphasis was that America is a very private society and privacy is of utmost importance unlike where I came from - India.

So when I look at online social networks like MySpace, Facebook and trillions other mushrooming every where, I find it a paradox to see the privacy that people care about the most offline is insignificant online. People seem to be ready to befriend total strangers, share any moment of their life through pictures and now even write to an anonymous recipient about their fatigue! If that is not enough, they are also using sites like Postsecret.com or notproud.com to spill their secrets.

To me personally, this seems to be a pure outcome of the fact that people are becoming more and more isolated but instead of actually investing in real offline relationships - which means compromise and sacrifices - are taking the path of least resistance. I am not surprised that the new web is all about user generated content :)

Imagine -  Providing friendship as a service!