Last week saw the official launch of yet another gay social networking site, this time it's Fabulis ! Yes, honestly it is Fabulis, and no, it's not my strange English spelling, that's what it's called! So, yep Fabulis, the new Facebook based social interaction network for gay men is up and running and in public. Now, you may know of the name, after all we've covered it before, when Citicbank suspended it's account, over some dodgy content, which proved not to be the case, the banks excuse was it was about a missing piece of documentation, other peoples views are somewhat different.
The site is now up and running and boasting almost 14000 members, so I had a little play and logged on, thought Facebook Connect and that was it, I was in. At first glance it seems a little odd, there doesn't appear to be much to it, or indeed much point. It's just like Facebook, but exclusively for gay guys and without the silly farmville type games and apps.
If some of your Facebook friends have already joined Fabulis, you'll see their photos on your profile page, you'll also have to pick three tags that apply to you most. Defining yourself by three words may prove a little difficult for some, indeed, I've spent many years becoming who I am, yet in the Fabulis world I am nothing other than writer/blogger, romantic, traveler. But, maybe that's all there is know!
After that, you can then look at others profiles to see fellow inhabitants of the same category as you, or equally, completely different ones! You're also given points, known as Fabulis Bits, which you can use to score and award people, making it one big popularity contest! Great if you're near the top, but flaying around the lower regions of the 13 thousands might be a dent to your ego and self esteem.
There are plans, which is basically the name they've given for events, simply pulled through from Facebook, probably by some clever technical thingy, which I don't fully understand really, but hey, I'm only a simple writer and I'm not meant to understand such things, as after all, I am calamity Jay, himself!
You can search by location, or by tag category and find yourself looking deep into the eyes of some hung from Fort Lauderdale, or an older bear from New York, or even an ever so slightly eccentric bloke from England's gayest city Brighton! Oh and yes, it depends upon what your privacy settings are set to on Facebook, to how much strangers can see on Fabulis!
I have to say, after a couple of hours playing with it, it's not yet floating my boat or raising my flag up the pole.
Ok, so I've not quite got to grips with it all yet, and I'm sure it really is a lot more fun that it first appears to be. However, as nice as it is to connect with gays all over the world, which it is, honestly, I love it, I just wish more would come say hello and visit me here at GayAgenda.com and over on my personal blog, the Seafront Diaries, but that's besides the point, yes it's great to connect, but is this little more than a facebook app for gay guys to waste even more time!
Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I've not been bitten by the bug yet, maybe I need to give it more time, and in a week or two I'll be so chuffed with my ranking, my 'new' friends, all my facebook profile photos being shown to strangers round the globe, that I'll be glowing about the new kid on the block of social networking, that you'll have to stick a size nine work boot in my mouth to shut me up.
Jason Shaw
Read more about Jason's so called experiences of social networking, media commentating and other such things as cheesecake on his blog, The Seafront Diaries!
© 2010 Copyright Jason Shaw
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