Two weeks have passed since I last covered the online hipster phenomena known as “Hipster Runoff”. A lot has happened in those two weeks. 2011 is the year Carles ‘pulls out all the stops’ and truly solidifies his online presence, since the internet has fully sucked him in. My wondering of him existing as a human being only increases upon this event.
Of course, I’m talking about Hipster Runoff [official] coming onto Facebook. At first I was confused, like didn’t Hipster Runoff already exist on Facebook. Apparently that was a fake profile and this one was the real thing. So now you get updates from every single part of your online existence, from your RSS feed to your twitter, now finally making it to Facebook.
I rushed in, becoming one of the select few to claim they got there early. Sadly, ‘second’ was already taken by Carles himself, eliminating the joy one might have derived from this action. Who got first? That proved to be ok, it was nice seeing Carles expose himself, his true self, and via the anonymous presence he has on the internet.
While I said before that Hipster Runoff becoming a dating site, well I was wrong. Its presence on Facebook is a whole another matter. None of those people posting on HRO generally had a picture up of themselves. Looking through the profiles of the people posting, I am surprised at the amount of cuteness. Some of them look like perfect alt-baguettes. I’m half-tempted to sort of flirt with them, but I shouldn’t though I probably will anyway. For both men and women, there are serious HILFs (Hipsters I’d like to Fuck) in the group.
Oddly, I’m assuming this is why Carles set up a Facebook fan page in the first place. Some may think it is just another gimmick for Hipster Runoff to get more readers. I don’t think that, this appears to be a genius way for Carles to flirt with cute twenty-somethings. Sure, that hasn’t happened yet, but it will. I would put $20 on it since he already does that with Twitter.
People act differently as well now that they have a picture associated with their words. They could hide behind an anonymous name, spewing nonsense before this. Actually, I like seeing what the commenters looked like. I felt a bit sad since only one of my other friends ended up liking it on Facebook. Clearly she ‘gets it’ while the rest of my friends are busy reading books by Karl Marx and working on their Grad School thesis.
2011 might be the year that Hipster Runoff gains some relevancy again. Lately Carles has been almost in crisis mode, constantly adding more and more to connect with him. We can call him, have him talk to us on Facebook, I wonder what’s next? Will Carles have a Skype interview? Will Carles visit your house and drink a couple of beers with you for 4 easy payments of $19.95? I’m a bit curious. He tried to charge $3000 for having him hand-deliver his shirts, and that didn't work. But he might try again, who knows.
Right now he’s taking on the persona of a kid who just joined Facebook. He asks his followers to tag pictures of him. This is funny because not only is it impossible to tag a fan page, but no one knows at all what he looks like or where he is. He pokes fun at the oversharing on the internet by deliberately providing incorrect information. 6969 Blog Avenue is not a real address, so please do not address mail to him, as he will not be able to receive it.
Parts of the group worry me. Some people are wondering if Carles spends too much on Facebook and whether or not it’ll dilute his blog further. I wonder. I ponder the effects of his writing after being exposed to so many people. Does writing suffer upon being discovered by more people, of tweaking your writing for a particular audience? Having read his early stuff, I get the distinct impression he’s going to spend 2k11 trying to find what made HRO so special in the first place.
These gimmicks buy him some time. With each one of these gimmicks, people focus more on his online presence and perhaps less on new styles he may be trying out. Hopefully he’ll be able to coin a new genre like he did in 2K9, I’m not sure if I count “Slutwave” as a genre or as a general observation, reflecting more on the packaging rather than the actual content.
Stay tuned for more public insecurity from Carles as he takes on new personas and perhaps changes up his style and approach yet again.