Wanna know what it's like to be in the midst of a global health crisis or catastrophic event like the Haiti earthquake or Hurricane Katrina? 

Me either, to tell you the truth. Living in LA is risky enough, without having to come face to face with the horrors of natural, governmental or human destruction. But I will admit to a curiosity about how such a horrific scenario might play out, and an interest in how I might better position myself and my loved ones to survive in the event of an actual emergency. For those who share my innate sense of self preservation, New York agency Campfire  has launched an interesting and ominous campaign in support of the new season of The Discovery Channel's original series, "The Colony".

Billed less as a TV show and more as a groundbreaking social reality experiment, "The Colony" follows a group of volunteers who are intentionally isolated from society to show how they would survive and rebuild in the event of a global flu pandemic.

To help bring viewers into the world of conjecture, secrecy, misinformation, and fear that would likely ensue if such a phenomenon were to actually occur, Campfire has created an online simulation of the experience, via Facebook.

After watching the intro video, which in and of itself is pretty creepy, Fans are invited to connect through Facebook to join the experience. For sensitive viewers for whom this realistic experience might be a bit too upsetting, the video reminds them that there's an escape clause -- closing your browser at any time will end the simulation.

Upon launch, the Facebook campaign transforms your real friends' updates into one big, open conversation on a global flu pandemic, including symptoms, complaints about long hospital lines, and statements of disbelief that VOPA (the organization charged with handling the outbreak) is telling the full story. In addition to the updates and videos posted by your "friends", Campfire has populated the pages with survival-related videos and articles from Discovery's library of content, including a video by Cali Lewis on supplies you'll need to prepare for an emergency and a link to the Discovery Health database of diseases and conditions.

Campfire certainly put a lot of care and thought into the execution of this campaign. Though certainly not perfect (there's no way my friend "Joshua" would take the hopeful, humanitarian stance attributed to him in one conversation), the experience did choose a few friends for comments that were eerily appropriate for their personal dispositions (I could totally see "Meaghan" sharing the phrase "Anyone who thinks this is hype needs a swift smack with a clue-by-four"). And there are endless opportunities to populate the page with new info, ideas, and paranoia-inducing potentialities.

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