so I was plugging into RealTime, as you do, earlier on today and a few tweets popped up from people saying that they'd been chosen.  I like being chosen for things; its one of those gloriously self-affirming things that makes you feel good and accepted and safe and therefore at peace and happy.  its a human thing.

anyway…  I clicked the bit.ly and found myself looking at the above mystery box.  and a rather glorious mystery box it is too.

I've written about Mystery Boxes before, I love them and there aren't enough of them in what we do…  they're what JJ Abrams describes as "infinite possibility, hope and potential" … he says that he finds himself "drawn to infinite possibility and that sense of potential, and I realise that mystery is the catalyst for the imagination … what are stories but mystery boxes?"

and this must be a good mystery box, because when the site asks me to connect with Facebook I do so without hesitation.  actually I do that a lot more now, I'm finding that I'm starting to click Connect at the drop of a hat…  Zuckerberg and his 'end of privacy' could be nearer to winning the battle for the internet 'aggregator of aggregators' than I realise…

anyway…  clicking on Connect starts a video which ends up with me looking at myself.  and my friends.  on lots of screens.  in a video that until a few seconds ago didn't exist.

now this isn't new…  applications have been doing this for a couple of years now.  but there are a few noteworthy things about it…  one, its beautifully done; the most elegant and clean of experiences.  two it can be spread like lightening both before and after the experience; with Twitter bringing up front then Facebook the rear of the journey.  finally its gloriously tangible…  the fact that (if I lived in the States) I'd be expecting an envelope to arrive on my door adds a very RealWorld element to what would otherwise have been a cool online experience.

its a shame it has to stop there really…  I can't help but think that
it would be a brilliant way to start an ARG …only when the envelope
arrives does the game begin.  and the game could play out on Facebook
because you're already plugged in.  oh its all good…