Chapter CXVIII: Amellus Quadra

Everyone with a Facebook profile should add the Purple Square application. You might say, "Oh, but Jerry, the Purple Square doesn't DO anything! It just sits there, ugly and totally useless!"

The underlying assumption of that statement is that other Facebook apps ARE useful, but this is the very attitude that Purple Square calls into question. Do your interactions with (Fluff)Friends or SuperPoke! actually mean anything? Do you really need "Free Gifts"? Didn't Facebook work fine without them? Fundamentally, aren't ALL Facebook applications just "purple squares?"

For that matter, didn't PEOPLE work fine without FACEBOOK? Herein lies the essential significance of the purple square--as a postmodern commentary on the role of technology in modern America. In the end, Facebook, MySpace, and all the others, are just giant purple squares: distracting for the moment, but ultimately inert. It reminds us what it means to be human, and that real relationships transcend electronic mediation.