Popular Web Site Analyzed

"Today I received my passport in the mail. They got my birthday wrong. Then I picked up my birth certificate that I had sent in with my application. Turns out my parents have been celebrating my birthday on the wrong day for 16 years. FML." This, and over 6,000 similarly embarrassing statements, can be found on fmylife.com, a Web site started in January of last year. The Web site's name, FMyLife, stands for the pop culture idiom "F — my life," which entered the lexicon of the college aged generation in the summer of 2007 when Superbad hit the big screen.

This phrase became so popular that it has been translated into several other languages. In fact, the first version of the site was not in English. In January 2008, Guillaume Passaglia and Didier Guedj founded Viedemerde.fr, which loosely translated means "life of shit" in French. This translated version of "f my life" became an overnight Web sensation and the developers soon began work on an English site. In October, people began posting to fmylife.com, and the site has been a hit ever since, receiving numerous new posts every day.

"Unlike Facebook or MySpace on-line social networking sites, this Web site is anonymous, providing its users with a shield of privacy to write down their private misdeeds and crazy mishaps," Sharlene Hesse-Biber, professor in the sociology department, said in an email.  "Visitors to the site are given an opportunity to read about the lived experiences of others, and in doing so, serve as witnesses to their testimony. The Web site functions as a ‘confessional' in virtual reality."

 "There is entertainment value in reading the posts. There is also a certain amount of looking for people who have had the same experiences as you,"  said Ted Gaiser, professor in the sociology department. "For example, if I did something really stupid and feel really terrible about it, I can visit this site. If I see that someone else did something just as dumb, or better yet, even dumber, then maybe my life isn't so bad after all." 
The name of the site continues to puzzle some even after the use is discovered. Gaiser said, "One thought is that this name might reflect the economic climate that we live in. The generation of people in their 20s have been raised in mostly affluent homes and were told they could do anything, now they are realizing that maybe they can't. They are realizing that they may never live as well as they were told they could, and there is a general feeling of frustration about that. This site is an outlet for that frustration."

The Web site has grown so successful in just the short time since it was founded that it has spawned two spin off Web sites, mylifeisaverage.com and textsfromlastnight.com, as well as a book that went on sale last June, titled FMyLife. There are also numerous college affiliates. Now, students from Harvard, Yale, Stanford, MIT, Dartmouth, Berkeley, and UCLA can also share their embarrassing stories anonymously on sites catered to their particular brand of misery. "Most of the posts on the site are about faux pas involving dating or partying," Gaiser said. "Who are the people doing heavy dating? College students. Who are the people partying and more likely to make a dumb decision? College students. So, naturally this Web site appeals to this demographic."
Hesse-Biber said that the popularity of the Web site may mean that it is replacing traditional outlets for sharing emotion or particularly embarrassing incidents. Instead of telling a friend or family member who could react and judge, this generation tells their computer, where they are anonymous and there is little to no feedback, she said. "Where are the private spheres for sharing that are unmediated by technology? Where are those interpersonal moments of confession that can be heard by another in real-time and one who is within our inter-personal space non-virtual space?" Hesse-Biber said.

 "This site triggers some sort of interaction. People can comment on each other's stories and give feedback," Gaiser said. "This allows someone to share their own personal horror stories without the potential embarrassment or awkward moment of people knowing that they were the ones who did this."