From Webcams to Facebook: Gay/Queer Men and the Performance of Situatedness-in-Displacement

Abstract

MIT’s August 2012 issue of Technology Review presents a snapshot of an important aspect of the contemporary zeitgeist: the sense of dis-ease engendered by the rapid rise of information technologies and the social changes that have accompanied their deployment, coupled to relentless hype that we must embrace these same technologies as progress incarnate even as we wait impatiently for their next iteration and further development. The magazine’s cover, a remix of the publicity poster for the film The Social Network, David Fincher’s 2010 examination of Facebook’s early years, features a close-up head shot of founder Mark Zuckerberg staring directly into the reader’s eyes. WHAT FACEBOOK KNOWS is emblazoned across his face, and immediately beneath: “It has collected more personal data than any other organization in human history. What will it do with that information?” A boxed section on the cover’s upper right corner lists more of the issue’s content. The first title promises to answer “Why you will wear Google Goggles.” These titles pivot between the present and the future—what Facebook knows now and why augmented reality as offered by Google, coming soon, will be irresistible. Their juxtaposition points to and is part of the dis-ease—can Facebook be trusted with this much power?—and the hype—you must have it!—on display throughout much of contemporary culture.