Culture

SOU LPA \ CA KE CHEW ON LIFE'S B

Laura Mooney
Arts Editor

hen was the last time a social

media website asked you about
your deep dark secrets? Or about
your personal aspirations for your life?
It is not often that you hear questions
such as this on Facebook or Twitter,
whose main focus is telling you what
your friends are up to without you, and
providing an outlet to tell the world that
you went to Starbucks for the tenth
time this week. While these social sites
focus mainly on the basics of your life,
SoulPancake chooses to take it a step
further. The site combines the fun of a
social website with deeper and more
insightful purposes, often asking deep
questions and allowing you to be fully
in control of your creativity involving
the website. One thing SoulPancake
does have in common with other social
media websites is that once you sign
up and begin, it is nearly impossible to
stop.

SoulPancake was created by actor
Rainn Wilson, famous for his role as
Dwight Schrute in The Office, and
was launched in early 2010. Wilson
created the website in order to

give a platform for users to explore
spirituality, creativity, religion, and
philosophy, all while maintaining the
social aspects that made Facebook
and Twitter popular. The basic idea

is that the users were able to ask any
question or post photos and videos of
anything to do with the more in depth
questions in life. While this aspect of
sharing and posting personal media

is nothing new, the fact that users are
essentially the only ones controlling
the content on the website is what
makes SoulPancake different, and
much more entertaining than any other
typical social media outlet. When | first
heard of this seemingly undiscovered
website (which already has over 100
OOO active users), being the social
media addict that | am, | knew | had to
investigate and see what this so-called
philosophic place for the 21st century
was all about.

When you first arrive on SouPancake's
welcome page, you are greeted with

bright colours, a flashy header, and
backgrounds like you have never seen
before. Each time you refresh the page
you are introduced to a new hand
drawn background featuring creatures
such as an eyeball with arms and legs,
or (my personal favorite) a cardinal
with a jetpack rocketing through
space. While viewing these strange
creations, you just know they must have
spawned from the deep dark depths
of someone's brain. After a bit of
research, | discovered that the person
responsible for these wonderfully eerie
pieces of art is a man by the name of
Mike Mitchell, an artist from Austin,
Texas who provides all of the artwork
for SoulPancake. It was initially these
peculiar and beautiful backgrounds
that drew me in, and made me want
to explore the site even further fo see
what other strange and wonderful
things | would find.

Once the initial routine account set

up is taken care of, you are able to
start exploring SouPancake fully. You
have three main options of where to
begin your journey: videos, activities,
or conversations. | first clicked on the
tab marked videos, and was taken

to SouFancake’s Youtube channel
where they have partnered with
some of the most popular Youtubers
including Kid President), showcasing
their videos as well as the creator's
own content. Videos like “Talk to Your
Ten Year Old Self” and “Elevator

Joy Bomb" are upbeat and positive,
pushing a message of gratification and
happiness and how to execute that in
your everyday life. The videos often
feature the creator of SoulPFancake
himself, Rainn Wilson, in segments
called “Metaphysical Milkshake” where
he interviews actors and musicians in
the back of his van. However, instead
of being the typical celebrity interview
you see on talk shows, Wilson asks
the guests questions about their views
and opinions of the world, engaging
them in ways not done in many other
interviews. The videos section of

the SoulPancake website is hours of
entertainment and leaves you feeling
just a little bit happier with yourself
and the world with each video you

watch.

Although the next two areas of
SoulPancake are technically two
ditferent tabs, they basically provide
the same type of service. In the
activities and conversations sections
the main purpose is fo engage your
brain and explore the tasks set by
other members of the community.
Conversations allows users to post
any question they want to start a
discussion about, then other users can
respond with their own answer or
input. When | first joined SoulPancake
| posted three questions on my profile
asking simple questions about the
other users favourite books and
movies, and within ten minutes | had
over AO responses. While some were
straight to the point, others took the
time to get very in depth, going into
detail about why they loved their
favourite book and how it made
them feel when they read it. It was
incredibly entertaining and even a bit
moving to go through and read all of
the responses. Activities, on the other
hand, still includes asking questions,
but it expands creativity even more,
allowing users ask questions about a
shared link or ask for photographs of
favourite things. One of the first things
| came across when scrolling through
this section was a thread asking to post
a photo of your ideal morning. Where
you would be, what you would be
eating, and who you would be with.
The question was so simplistic and yet
the photos being posted were artistic
and so well thought out you would think
they were straight out of a magazine.
Each new thread | came across was
creative in its own way, and it only
increased my desire to delve more into
this mysterious website.

Atter scrolling through at least 20
pages of material on the activities
page of SoulPancake, it finally struck
me as to why this website stands apart
from all of the other social media
sites. It is the wonderful combination
of people and the right type of
platform that makes SoulPancake so
different. On SoulPancake, there is
no fear that what you post will be
mocked or chastised in any way. No

matter how personal and meaningful
the question you ask or the response
you post is, others having replied in a
similar way. The beauty is also in the
questions themselves. On my journey
through the site | saw questions from
as simple as my own “what is your
favourite movie?” all the way up to
having to describe your perfect God
in ten words. The responses to each
question feel as though you are sitting
right in the room with the stranger
and they are confessing to you their
innermost thoughts and feelings.
SouPancake provides an outlet where
people young and old can be their
true selves. Whether they choose to
do it anonymously or not is up to them,
but it gives you a sense that you are
with like- minded people who really
understand and will not judge you.
Even the negative “troll” comments
can hardly be seen as destructive. On
my profile | asked a question about
first loves, how old you were and how
did you know? While the majority of
the responses were incredibly sweet
and insightful, one commenter told a
story of how he was in a department
store and had love at first sight with

a mannequin. He went on to describe
how he and the doll now had tiny
plastic children and had to hide their
love from the world because no one
understood. Even though the user's
response was essentially mocking my
question, | still laughed my head off
when | first read it. Even the trolls are
upbeat and positive on SouPancake!

While SoulPancake may never reach
the status of Facebook and Twitter in
terms of popular social media sites,

it has found its home amongst those
looking to get a little bit more out

of a website. The pure honesty you
find yourself pouring into the site is
something | personally have never
experienced with anything else, and
it really does feel as though you are
telling your deepest darkest secrets to
non-judgmental friends from all over
the world. So the next time you are
browsing the Internet, give SoulPancake
a try, and you just might be surprised
at what you learn about yourself and
the world around you.

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