Facebook, which was created in 2004 is the largest social media site in the world with over 400 million members world wide. Its simplest use is connecting users with other users, however it can be used to a more advanced degree as an online chat room, forum, blogging site, and photo-sharing center (Vander, 2010).
It terms of design, Facebook allows for free movement across the virtual network. Anyone is able to speak to and connect with everyone else. There would appear to be no boundaries or limits to the number of individual connections that can be made. Considering that personal, formal and intimate information can be passed between users, Facebook can be interpreted as a map of the mind in which it can show the opinions, and emotions of users. Bloggers BA1002
If we consider that the past is the past and reflect on this to shape the future, Facebook certainly can aid us here. The site keeps a record of past comments and blogs, photos and all other related content, respective of which users posted what. From here it can be taken that users can use their previous posts whether they regret them or not, and use them to make improved ones for the future (Wood D. et al, 2006)
Since I started using Facebook, my identity on the site has remained the same, I may have added a made-up middle name now and again though. My reasoning for not clouding any part of my identity is to have a sense of knowing that I am being morally truthful about myself to others.
When I use Facebook I am able to leave the physical realm and travel to anywhere in the world to speak with friends and family, or perhaps meet new people (who claim to be in "Russia"). My freedom as it seems, appears to be enhanced when using the site.
Facebook makes me feel empowered in the sense that I can say what I want, when I want to without having to physically face the individual to whom I am speaking.
Reference List:
Barnes, G. (1997). Passage of the Flâneur (web site)
Vander, E. (2010). Facebook the missing manual. Retrieved from http://reader.eblib.com.au.elibrary.jcu.edu.au
Wood D. (2006). et al. ‘The Multiple Truths of the Mappable World’. In Seeing Through Maps.
In this blog you refer to Facebook having "no boundaries or limits to the number of individual connections that can be made". However, due to privacy settings and the 'friending' process this is not entirely true. As Foucault explains "Power relations are rooted in the system of social networks" (Foucalt M,1982).Facebook relations can disempower users through the ability to reject frienships requests. This can isolate individuals and set boundaries on their Facebook experience.
ReplyDeleteFoucault M (1982). The Subject and Power. Chicago Journals 8 (4) 777-795
Hi Callum,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your feeling of 'freedom'. Once considered 'far off places' are now just a click away. This accessibility and opportunity must impact who we are as individuals."The small-world mystery is indeed more than a mere curiosity. It reveals an underlying dynamic of interconnectedness that expresses itself indelibly in who we are, how we think, and how we behave." (Buchanan, 2010)
Buchanan, M.(2002). Small worlds & Chapter 1: Strange connections, in Nexus:Small worlds and the groundbreaking science of networks (p.33). New York,NY:W.W.Norton.