The Cyber-Flanuer's Aimless Ways

The Cyber-Flaneur's Aimless Ways

Vine, the video-sharing social media site, widely shares videos from all over the world. And yet, so many videos are overlooked because they are not entertaining enough to all 'the right people'. But does it really matter if they are? The Cyber-Flaneur can be one such anonymous participant in this scheme. While the Cyber-Flaneur actively observes their virtual surroundings, it is rare that they participate in the promotion of any certain events - or in this case, videos - they may observe. This argument is also apparent in Barnes' (1997) text as she describes as follows, "An unconfined 'pedestrian' movement where he could anonymously embrace the glittering spectacles of modern life without necessarily having to participate in them - so too does cyberspace offer to the Cyber-Flaneur an unrestricted flanerie.

As discussed by Kuttainen (2015) just like real life maps, the virtual world, too, has its own maps. Connecting not only other people, but also other networking sites. The purpose of the Cyber-Flaneur is that they have no real purpose other than to aimlessly click their way through multiple people and networks. In Vine, other people are featured in others videos, and can be found in 'tags' where one can then be redirected to another persons videos. The Cyber-Flaneur then opens a link into someone else's page and passively participates in not participating - if you know what I mean.

Also discussed by Barnes (1997), is the way the Cyber-Flaneur goes about their aimless search for something amusing. They tend to not care about they people they are staring at. Barnes states that very much like the prison Panopticon, both the Cyber-Flaneur and the other person posting videos and updates, "Are both in a position of omnipotent voyeurism." So are the Cyber-Flaneur's really that important in the promotion of the online community?

According to this Article, I suppose they aren't.

References:

Barnes, G. (1997). Travelling in Cyberspace. Passage of the Flaneur. Retrieved from http://www.raynbird.com/essays/Passage_Flaneur.html

Barnes, G. (1997). Scopic Power in Cyberspace. Passage of the Flaneur. Retrieved from http://www.raynbird.com/essays/Passage_Flaneur.html

Kuttainen, V. (2015). Maps. Lecture, James Cook University.