YouTube And Real Life Converge

Time to get out of the sweatpants, YouTubers. Youtubemeetup.com has organized a gathering of YouTube folk in New York on July 7, 2007. It seems to be organized like a conference with various events, meals and parties. Honestly, I don't know what to think about bringing an anonymous culture face-to-face. My immediate instinct says that upon doing so, one may experience regret. The same sort of regret caused by getting wasted and sleeping with a buddy's older, overweight sister. The next morning, you shuffle off with your eyes low and wish it never happened. In the past, I've been to DefCon and this just seems different. DefCon is geeks huddled around their computers still not talking or looking at each other. They take notes in lectures and compete in hacking tournaments. It's not a social experience. But social networking is, well, social. Generally, we try to be honest, at least I do, but who really knows? By what barometer could I possibly measure how accurately I represent myself on MySpace or on this blog for that matter? Meeting with "cyber friends" face-to-face forces you to confront that veil that most of us deny even having. And that could be weird. Even anxiety provoking. Given the amount of vice online, the Internet is sorta like Vegas. What happens here, stays here.