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A small world is easily detected on the radar of the WEB.
Whatever I was doing for the last 4 years, what orbits I was circling, but I missed the world. “Asmallworld”, that is. Found out about it today and, it seems to me, I won’t be living there any time soon anyway…
Nevertheless, I’ve discovered a world of information on the WEB by googling “asmallworld” and getting 115,000 results back. I read a few articles on the subject and now would like to present you with a short summary of my findings.
It’s no wonder, that people sharing the same interests, characteristics and friends, would form their own world. It’s a social club, as much as Facebook or any other knitted together by hobbies or views community, only with more restrictions and rules, and it elicits more publicity, criticism and opinions, then this particular circle of people, who belong, would want to hear.
Here is what the site’s www.asmallworld.net front page says: “ASMALLWORLD is a private online community, which is designed for those who already have strong connections with one another.”
According to NY Times article, it was “Founded four years ago, the site, …has grown from about 500 members to about 150,000 registered users.”
In August of 2005, according to Wired, it had 68,000 members. Here is the excerpt from the article on how it all started:
“A former investment banker and the son of a Swedish ambassador to the US, Wachtmeister got the ASW idea during a boar hunt at a friend’s estate in Germany. “I was crouched in the leaves, meditating alone, and thought: Relationships are like assets. Why not create a secure network where people can share and develop them? People in the upper echelon have a tremendous need for trusted info. Not from a guidebook, but from their peer group.”
Dubbed Snobster by the masses, ASW claims more than 68,000 globe-trotting members. Since 2004, it’s been an online hangout where princesses and barons mingle with socialites like Frederic Fekkai and Conrad de Kwiatkowski, where names such as Cartier and Versace waft around like expensive scents, where business luminaries like Charles Muirhead and Lili Zanuck prowl about. No fake profiles allowed - “I’ve deleted a few Bill Clintons,” Wachtmeister says. “But a few dogs slip through.” By www.wired.com
If you are interested in exploring this small world too, you may check out the site’s page, where the information is general and scarce, score the WEB, or for a glimpse, click here: www.nytimes.com
On the other hand, if you really want to belong to an exclusive club, start your own!
