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Tomo Today (Instant Virtual Friends)
Date: April Fool's Day, 2009
Categories: Romance, Internet Technology, Newspapers, Japan, 2009, Fictitious Products
The Japan Times profiled a new social-networking service that would provide people with instant virtual friends. The service, called TomoToday, had been created to complement sites such as Facebook and MySpace. The service claimed to "provide a short cut to a substantial social-media presence."
TomoToday subscribers will be able to choose from strategically selected sets of virtual friends, dubbed "InstaNakama," tailor-made to nurture the user's desired online identity. Say you're a shy young man, in need of pointers and ice-breaking intros. The Wingumen are at your service... Other readymade TomoToday circles include: Jetto Setto (multilingual friends from all over the globe); OB-Gun (long-lost school chums); Power Ranchers (for the corporate networks); and Geek Gumi (for socially challenged otaku).

The virtual friends were recruited from the ranks of unemployed temp workers.
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All text Copyright © 2011 by Alex Boese, except where otherwise indicated. All rights reserved.