The Circle

Monday morning is especially busy, and Mae struggles to keep her score high. Through intracompany messaging, Francis asks her to lunch. They meet in the Glass Eatery, and Francis tells her about his pet project, ChildTrack, which will plant chips in children’s bones to save them from abductions. Mae expresses concern over this prospect, but Francis is adamant about the benefits and cites polling that shows overwhelming parental support for this product.

At the end of her shift, Dan asks Mae if she has a few minutes to spare. She first goes to the bathroom, and as she nears its entrance, she sees a man in the hallway. When she emerges from the bathroom, she approaches him, suggesting he looks lost. They engage in small talk, and he introduces himself as Kalden. Mae is suspicious of him but also intrigued. He asks to watch her work, and she agrees. He eventually leaves her workspace, and Gina appears, who is visiting Mae upon Dan’s request.

Gina sets up all of Mae’s social accounts. During the process, Mae unintentionally offends her by referring to the social accounts as “extracurriculars.” Gina makes it clear that her social profiles are a crucial component of her job at The Circle. She activates Mae’s CircleSearch account, which allows employees to find anyone on campus at any time. As an example, they track Annie’s location, and Gina expresses admiration for Mae’s friendship with Annie. Next, Gina sets up Mae’s Zing account. Zing is used as a social tool to connect with other Circlers, as well as society at large. Mae is expected to “zing” at least 10 times per day, sharing her interests and activities. Gina then unlocks Mae’s primary workplace social media feed: InnerCircle. Immediately, thousands of messages appear on the screen. Lastly, Gina familiarizes Mae with PartiRank, which measures Circlers’ social media participation, ranking them from top to bottom.

Mae begins reading through all her messages. They largely relate to campus news and events. There are also requests to sign petitions and join various social groups. Mae stays past 10 pm to read all the messages and notifications but starts to fall asleep and eventually goes home before finishing.

The following morning, Mae’s workload for CE is lighter, so she works on catching up with the social media flow. She is excited by all that is happening at The Circle. Mae is looking forward to lunch with Annie when a message appears from Dan, asking her to spare a few minutes. She goes to his office where he introduces her to Alistair, who is offended because Mae didn’t respond to his social media invitation for a Portugal-themed brunch. Mae doesn’t recall the invitation but says she saw it and didn’t respond because she “wasn’t sure if [she] was welcome, being so new [there]” (107). Alistair is relieved. Mae returns to her desk and receives a report on the “glitch” with Alistair, which she is required to sign.

At lunch, Annie tells Mae that she was following her conflict with Alistair. Mae is taken aback that Annie monitored the interaction but is comforted by her reassurance that it isn’t a big deal. Annie explains that she was likely invited to the brunch because she had something in her laptop that revealed she had been to Portugal. At The Circle, all laptops are scanned for their information, which is then sent to the cloud. After lunch, Annie takes Mae to a room filled with free samples from top brands. Mae is told to take whatever she wants and leaves with many items.

Upon returning to her desk, Mae has several messages from Annie, who is concerned that she said things about Dan and Alistair that could’ve been construed as insulting. The messages seem paranoid, and Mae invites her to have drinks that night to destress. Annie declines, so Mae instead asks out Francis. They go to San Francisco, have drinks, and kiss many times.

On Dream Friday, Mae and Francis sit next to each other in the Great Hall. Francis’s friend, Gus, gives a presentation about his dating app called LuvLuv. Gus asks for a volunteer to come to the stage for the demonstration. Francis, as he had rehearsed with Gus, raises his hand and goes to the stage. Mae is terrified. In front of the crowd, Francis declares that he would like to date Mae. On the giant screen, Gus uses search tools to determine what Mae would consider an enjoyable date. Mae is upset by this and sneaks out of the auditorium.

Francis shows up at her desk and apologizes, but Mae won’t look at him. He leaves and continues to apologize through messages. He tries to make the point that she shouldn’t be concerned because all the information shared in the demonstration is readily available online to the public. Mae understands that this is true, but she feels like her full personality was not accurately portrayed. Later that afternoon, she receives messages from her mother telling her to come home.