Whenever I think about social networking sites, I cannot help but to think about reality television. Those who are against reality television argue that the genre only exposes the negativity of people. However, reality television has become a phenomenon as all the major networks now have a large line up of reality shows, ranging from people living onto an island for thirty nine days or people aspiring to become a hair stylist. The connection I draw between social networking and reality television is how they both reflect social tendencies. These social tendencies include how people desire to know what others are doing and how people desire to build connections with others, no matter how tenuous it may be.
As an avid reality television watcher, I have to admit that I enjoy the genre because I like seeing complete strangers stress out during unusual circumstances, such as twelve people being stuck in a house together for four months in hopes of winning half a million dollars. Although my life is not broadcasted on television, aspects of my life have been exposed via-Facebook. Social networking sites have become internet tabloids, but instead of focusing on celebrities, it could focus on anyone within your social network. I used to be an avid Facebook user, but when people begin to question why I have been tagged in a picture with a certain person, when someone questions why I wrote on someone else’s wall, I knew I had to reconsider how I wanted to present myself on the internet.
Facebook has shown that people are interested in each other’s business, even without celebrity status and its more convenient to discover how someone else is through a website than actually communicating with them. There have been several occasions where I have attended a party only for a random person to come up to me and say that he or she has looked me up on Facebook and begin the “which friends do we have in common game,” where he or she begins to list people we may both know and I nod or shake my head in response to each name. I would have conversations with acquaintances where they would know what I was doing a few nights ago because of a wall post or a tagged picture. During these situations, I could help but think I would never want to have a conversation with this person because he or she has taken the liberty of getting to know me without actually talking to me. Furthermore, whenever this situation occurred, I wonder why people would dedicate their time to look up relative strangers.
Sites such as Twitter, where people only post 160 characters of what they are doing periodically throughout the day, show how people are always interested in what others are doing, where they’re going, and who they spend their time with, no matter how mundane it may be. Perhaps people are really interested in how others spend their time, or perhaps it is a way to build a connection with others. While life has its obstacles and makes it so you cannot always see your friends, or even best friends and family, these social networking sites allow you to instantaneously know what others are doing.
Although these social networking sites have allowed people to know what their friends are doing throughout the day instantaneously, has it deteriorated relationships? For example, I had a friend who broke up with her boyfriend because she thought he was cheating on her by writing on another girl’s wall throughout the day instead of spending time with her. Instead of approaching him in person to confront the issue, she decided to break up with him via-text messaging. She felt informed on his life because she was able to check his Facebook status whenever she wanted. She did not assume that she perceived the text in the wrong way. She failed to acknowledge that Facebook has its social limitations. Tone could not be translated into text, such as sarcasm. Furthermore, she did not acknowledge that having a conversation person to person could have opened the lines of communication. Conversation through social networking sites should not replace human interaction.
Even though social networking sites have many positive aspects, having an instantaneous connection with someone can have a negative impact. Not only does a social network user have to be completely aware that others are reading the page, but someone may misinterpret the content on the page. Furthermore, social networking pages should not be used as a primary tool to communicate. Similar to reality television and tabloids, the content shown can only be taken with a grain of salt. What is seen on the screen is only one side of a person.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Introduction to Facebook
Have you ever spent a night on Facebook when you should have been studying for a test or writing an essay due the next day? I, too, have performed such a procrastinating act. Perhaps it was a form of procrastination, or perhaps I was interested in what my friends’ current statuses were, or maybe I wondered if anyone wrote on my wall. Whatever the case may be, the popularity of social networking sites have sky rocketed ever since Myspace became mainstream.
Although I never made a Myspace account, Facebook was all the rage when I was in high school. I would go out to parties where new people would take pictures of me and them and then exclaim, “Oh-My-God, what is your name so I can tag you? This picture is so FB-worthy”. After countless times where I said I did not have one, I caved in. I made a page where I was able to express my identity, which is perhaps one of the reasons why social networking sites have become so popular.
The purpose of social networking sites is to make a profile where you get to choose a photogenic picture (or… not so much), list your hobbies, and let other people see who is in your social network, and connect with strangers or friends of a friend, of a friend. Through this medium, you are able to make yourself appear however you want to other people. You could lie about your hobbies, you could choose a picture from ten years ago, and you can friend random people to make other’s believe you have a large(r) social network. Regardless of how a user intends to use it, the customizations of social networking sites have evolved over time to the point that now I could log onto Facebook and use its embedded instant messaging client or play simple games by downloading an application.
When I created my Facebook account, I made it with the intent the people who began to sound like a broken record, talking about how Facebook is awesome, how they are always on it, and how I have pretty much locked myself in a room by not having one. When discussing social networking sites with my friends, it seems they all created their accounts because everyone else has. After I made my account, I actually realized how social networking sites could become a great resource.
For one, I created it right before going off to college. I am from
I’ll admit that like others, I was persuaded by Facebook’s novelty. From its ease of use to its accessibility (bringing a laptop to class or going to the library), I visited the page whenever I opened up a web browser. I was able to establish relationships with people I normally would not see more than once or twice, such as a friend of a friend. Like cell phones, social networking sites have changed interpersonal communication. For a short while, I thought it changed interaction for the good, but soon I realized that was not the case…
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