Once this book manuscript is done (deadline October 10, and it looks like I’m on track) I’m going to explore all manner of online narratives, and Kate Modern will have to be one of them. This is a spin-off from the Lonelygirl15 series of videos that was a hit on YouTube last year, but set in London, and sponsored by and integrated with the British social networking site Bebo. Here’s Kate’s Bebo profile, and an edited “catch up” sequence for those of us who haven’t been following the story since July.

Watch More Videos       Uploaded by bebo.com/MyKateModern
Apparently there’s a new show planned in the same style for later this autumn, also to run on Bebo: Sophia’s Diary. Given that Bebo’s a social networking site for real friends to connect on, I wonder whether they’ll get upset users reacting to this introduction of a fictional character on the site, as Friendster users objected to the Friendster-sanctioned fakesters from TV-series? This question from a user suggests Bebo’s pushing Kate Modern without necessarily explaining that she’s fictional.

And though I haven’t really explored Kate Modern too much yet, it does look as though the several-years-old Online Caroline (which I wrote about back in 2002) is still more advanced narratively and technically than the new web video serials.