Eggers is blatantly taking shots at social media as a whole. The all powerful mega company known as The Circle is almost like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Google all combined into one massive company. Though, I read online that Eggers said he was not targeting any of these companies, the parallels are hard to miss. The location of The Circle is in Northern California with a vast sprawling campus that includes spas, recreational activities, a day care and more. Silicon Valley where the real life companies reside is also in Northern California where they too have vast sprawling, high tech, campuses. The founder of The circle, Ty Gospodinov, is described as a boy-wonder visionary who is a genius with limited social skills. Eggers wrote, "... the boy-wonder visionary, was wearing nondescript glasses and an enormous hoodie, staring leftward and smiling... People said he had borderline Asperger's, and the picture seemed intent on underscoring the point. With his dark unkept hair, his unline face, he looked no more than twenty- five." I kept picturing this kid as Mark Zuckerberg, and I think that is exactly how Egger's wanted it.
The "Zing's" or quick updates on what you are doing or where you are can be seen as tweets or facebook updates. The camera "lollipop" sized cameras marketed by The Circle as constant access to everywhere you want to be can easily be compared to Apple's facetime.
There is obviously no doubt Eggers is making connections to the world today, with its abundance of ways to stay "connected" via the internet. I believe he is trying to warn his readers of what may come in the future rather than directly targeting specific social medias. I think his book serves as a reminder that our technological advancements, while extraordinary, may one day get the best of us. This is a lot like Ray Bradbury's 'Fahrenheit 451' or George Orwell's '1984' which both tell the tale of a future filled with omnipresent surveillance.
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