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Fake girlfriends may date well back to pre-Internet days, but one online startup has decided that there, too, should be an app for that.
The Cloud Girlfriend (read: virtual or "Social Network Girlfriend") promises the perfect girlfriend based on an ideal defined by the user. The site, which has yet to launch, summarizes it in four easy steps:
"Step 1: Define your perfect girlfriend. Step 2: We bring her into existence. Step 3: Connect and interact with her publicly on your favourite social network. Step 4: Enjoy a public long distance relationship with your perfect girl."
Company co-founder David Fuhriman likens it to "a real long-distance girlfriend, without the hassles," who will tweet loving messages and post sweet nothings on your social medium of choice. Mr. Fuhriman is also adamant that the Cloud Girlfriend shouldn't be confused with a sex chat or pornography service. "The girlfriend is operated by a real girl," he writes.
The site is still in its early days, so men who want Cloud Girlfriends must sign up and wait. Or, if especially eager, they can help spread the news through Twitter and Facebook for an early invite.
PC World reports that the Cloud Girlfriend "is therapeutic because it fulfills a man's psychological, emotional needs, and builds his self-confidence," despite the fact that she doesn't exist. But for the modern man, often too busy for courtship, perhaps that minor detail is what makes her ideal.
For some, the Cloud Girlfriend might not be that extreme. In 2009, a Japanese man married a character from the Nintendo DS game Love Plus. The 27-year-old became the first person to marry an avatar, his way of proving his "devotion to his avatar girlfriend" through an online ceremony. The union had no legal implications.
Meanwhile, a YouTube user this week was busted for being in a virtual relationship with a woman he created and controlled himself through fake Twitter, YouTube and Tumblr accounts. Since being exposed, he's disabled comments on his YouTube page and deleted his Facebook profile.
Maybe he'll stand as an early warning for the consequences of, well, having a fake girlfriend.
Gentlemen, is a virtual girlfriend a perfect girlfriend? Ladies, if such an app existed for men, would you use it?