Blogging since 1823

A well-executed Facebook parody site called Hatebook has stepped in to provide grumpy people with a place to bitch about everything they hate.

You know those days, the ones when you’d love to have your Facebook status say “My boss is a tool!”. But since our parents and bosses are aware of and most likely connected to our social networks, many of us may be wary of venting our frustrations online using standard social-networking sites like Facebook, MySpace or Twitter.

Hatebook looks and functions much like a hellish version of Facebook. There is an evil twist for everything. The color scheme is red, profiles include a section called “Why I’m Better Than You!”, and members can create “Hate Albums” that consist of photos and descriptions of things they hate.

The German creators of this hater’s social network have done a very good job replicating much of Facebook’s functionality, and they have even thrown in some additional useful features. You can visually locate other members by looking for their avatars on a map via integrated Google Maps. You can also see which members have last visited particular profiles.

Too much Hatebook can be a bad thing though. Because all messages (”junkmail”) are viewable by all other users, and there are no privacy controls.

This is not the first attempt to parody or lash back at the take-themselves-too-seriously social networking websites and the general trend towards constant online interconnectedness. Some others include Isolatr, Snubster and the real-life social interaction instigator NoSo. Even Facebook is trying to laugh at itself with the launching of Enemybook and Snubster apps.

So find a place to vent your angst. It can be cathartic.