For my final project I was going to examine the use of Facebook for teenagers, how they interacted and the types of relationships established through these connections. As a parent, and a friend of my child's Facebook account- I was able to observe and examine her usage and those of her friends.
In Wellman's article, it provided two questions to consider when contemplating how the internet is influencing interpersonal relationships:
1. Do people communicate more because the internet offers the the capability to contact people at a distance?
2.Do they primarily communicate via the internet or are face-to-face meetings, phone calls and gatherings still important in creating closeness?
My observations of her usage showed that there was continued and improved communication with some of her peers that she no longer sees, such as her elementary school friends (neighborhood former classmates)thus allowing her to "check in with friends and colleagues, ask how they are doing.."(Donath) while answering Wellman's questions on the capability to contact people at a distance.
In this regards, the internet is vital to my daughter's continued relationship with some friends as some have moved to other states and they rely on Facebook and may only occasionally make the effort to conduct phone calls for special events or holidays.
Another area to note is the frequency of my teenagers use of Facebook. She has opted for text alerts when there are updates to her facebook account taking advantage of portable devices such as her cellular phone and her Ipod, reinforcing Wellman's statement that , "...with portability, people take their devices with them. The combination facilitates the emphasis on individuals connecting and (mobilizing) to individuals rather than individuals connecting to groups..."
Facebook also allows for "tagging" friends in pictures so that friendships and experiences can be validated and reinforce self-description (Donath).
Working definition of this online identity is of shared friendships and shaped through comments, likes and photos and tags.
Those are just a few of my observations relating to my final project and this assignment... I found some of the questions did not relate well to the final project- so I also wanted to share some personal experience in SNSs that may be more adequate towards this assignment.
Through exploration of various SNS sites for this class, I was exposed to Pinterest and am now a regular "pinner".
Pinterest users start to develop a sense of community based upon common interests and the ability to follow eachothers boards. There are notes that are left to fellow pinners and also boards specifically for friends within the site. This development agrees with Wellman's concept that the "...the developed world has been experiencing a shift...towards flexible communities based on networked households and individuals..."
The following screen shots provide two "sunny day" scenarios in which members are find common ground in "pins", notable in the repins or comments.
As for the "rainy day" scenario, I was unable to locate the large amounts of notes that went with it, but they focused on disagreement over some photographs that some considered "porno" while other considered art. Below is a screen shot of something people may be offended by... I am glad that the art value and the SNS controllers opted not to exclude these types of photos and those offended could merely keep scrolling and not repin.
Online identity of this site is people of shared interests, most having no physical or actual acquaintance with eachother than online. Identity is shaped by followers and repins of your items.
With this assignment it was difficult to focus the questions primarily on our final project as I am still observing my daughter's Facebook activities and doing research so I also provided some insight that may answer our assignment a bit more with my own observations on my favorite SNS :)
Great way to represent the different scenarios! I'm really impressed that the Pinterest controllers allow users to filter their own content, rather than trying to censor things in order to cater to the most conservative of their users. Interesting post!
ReplyDeleteGreat post! It is interesting to hear that your daughter is keeping in touch with peers that she no longer sees (especially as a teenager). In this case, I wonder about her level of connection to these teenagers that she only keeps in touch with via Facebook. Is the purpose to have more friends, if it is not to augment current relationships? I also wonder how your daughter considers different signals from those she does see in person anymore; does she have the same level of trust (less or more) than her current friends? Regarding your rainy day scenario, it is interesting to see how “controversial” items play a role in the development of on-line identity. This case makes me think about one of our original readings about MUDs (Dibbell, 1998), where users could have (and may) easily create another account to create a desired identity.
ReplyDeleteHi Caloha. I second MB. Great post. I appreciate your reiteration of the assignment and your attempt to relate this week's assignment directly to your final project. I had some trouble with that part, too. I am also doing my final project on Facebook but instead of teenagers, I am focusing on underage user's activity and possibly their connection/communication with their teachers while on the SNS.
ReplyDeleteYour preliminary observations of your daughter's Facebook activity reveal that she is indeed able to retain relationships regardless of proximity. I think that having access to faraway friend's photos and videos is instrumental in keeping the friendship familiar and fresh as friends can easily comment on an image and not need to strike up a new topic on the wall.
I try to activated mobile alert on my cellphone when I get an update in my FB account. I found that this function is more distracting than helping me getting information that I need. What I don't really like from this alert is when I get an email in my account. The email will appear in so many pages of text and to read it I have tab several time to get reply. Therefore, I decided to deactivate the function. This is maybe not directly related with your post, but I found that in certain way, FB are really distracting when they change their policy and privacy setting. While for the developer, privacy in online community is not a matter, but I think almost all members/users still consider this aspect matter.
ReplyDeleteYou've come upon an intriguing distinction; that whether pinning photographs or creating friends/followers, identity is expressed less through things you do, and more through things (or people) you like. I agree that this sessions's assignment didn't exactly fit a Facebook-based final project (expressing identity and interacting through a site, versus using a site to stay connected with people you already know), but you made some good connections between the two.
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of Pinterest before you wrote about it and it seems really interesting to me. I will have to check it out later. I agree that on a site like this, a user's identity has a lot to do with the things they pin and the people that follow them. Included in this, also might be the people that you follow. There doesn't seem to be much communication on Pinterest from what you describe, so the pinning and following of others contribute to be a huge part of any user's identity.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting post, and I like how you connect this assignment with our final project. I also agree with the statement that “a working definition of this online identity is of shared friendships and is shaped through comments, likes, and photos and tags.” I also agree with Anthony’s view that pinning and the following of others are big parts in the case of Pinterest— but commenting is also big part of how identity is shaped because even though you don’t pin other people’s posts you can leave a comment that you don’t agree and this also indicates the type of identity of the user.
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