A Closer Look to Facebook
by Laetitia Cunden
 |
| Image from: pushpresslabs.com |
'Power is a complex part in any social system. Yet it can be physical, material and/or symbolic!' (Petray, 2013). Power is a relationship even though if sometimes it tends to denigrate people, stated in our 1st week reading.
The virtual network I've chosen to analyse for this assessment is Facebook. Before I joined it, I didn't heard a lot about it (Maybe it was because I was quite young and influenced by my elder sister!) but once I got on this virtual network, it suddenly became addictive. Why? it was because of all the updates, statuses, life events, friends... You get curious and want to know about what is happening in X's life or you love the style this person has.. Anyway you stalk some profiles and whatever the reason of this addiction, this virtual network do have power on our lives!
'Be purposeful in what you do. Think about the why of every action you take, every piece of communication you share and every interaction or new relationship you forge' stated the Founder Toby Daniels in his article on forbes.com. You should be wise about all your updates on the internet: Remember self-surveillance: Panopticon ! Keep in mind that not everybody will be proud or happy for you for what's happening in your lives (+ of maniacs!)
To conclude, we live in a modern world and there's more and more virtual networking for some specific purposes: mails (which was manually delivered), information (which was found in books in libraries), online readings (which were usually done at the library), meeting friends (which were by sending manually letters), meeting the loved one (which was all about romance), fashion...Why? 'Because everything's so real that makes it human!' stated the Founder Mark Zuckerberg on oprah.com The virtual networks are nowadays controlling everything in our lives, everything's done online.. due to facility but it shows us how we, humans, are easily influenced by the power of virtual networking!
'Be purposeful in what you do. Think about the why of every action you take, every piece of communication you share and every interaction or new relationship you forge' stated the Founder Toby Daniels in his article on forbes.com. You should be wise about all your updates on the internet: Remember self-surveillance: Panopticon ! Keep in mind that not everybody will be proud or happy for you for what's happening in your lives (+ of maniacs!)
To conclude, we live in a modern world and there's more and more virtual networking for some specific purposes: mails (which was manually delivered), information (which was found in books in libraries), online readings (which were usually done at the library), meeting friends (which were by sending manually letters), meeting the loved one (which was all about romance), fashion...Why? 'Because everything's so real that makes it human!' stated the Founder Mark Zuckerberg on oprah.com The virtual networks are nowadays controlling everything in our lives, everything's done online.. due to facility but it shows us how we, humans, are easily influenced by the power of virtual networking!
References:
Petray. T. (2013)-BA1002: Our Space, Networks, Narrative and the Making of Place, lecture 2: Power [Power Point Slides]. Retrieved from: http://learnjcu.edu.au
Petray. T. (2013)-BA1002: Our Space, Networks, Narrative and the Making of Place, lecture 2: Power [Power Point Slides]. Retrieved from: http://learnjcu.edu.au
Kleinman. J. (2013). Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-progress/2013/02/11/the-power-of-social-networking-qa-with-social-media-week-founder-toby-daniels/
Stross. C. (2002). Antipope. Retrieved from http://www.antipope.org/charlie/old/rant/panopticon-essay.html
Liebert. E. (2010). Oprah. Retrieved from http://www.oprah.com/spirit/the-power-of-social-networking-facebook-fairytales/
Image Credits:
Kleinman. J. (2013). Facebook. Retrieved from http://www.pushpresslabs.com/designing-an-effective-facebook-ad-for-crossfit/
Hi Laetitia, some of the points that you have brought up a very relevant to the distribution of power and this emergence of 'Facebook stalkers'. As you stated, the power of the internet has inadvertently taken over our lives, as we spend more and more time online. In addition, virtual networks do hold a lot of power over our lives, but it also distorts our view of space as an area that is marked and defended (Tuan, 1977). Therefore, virtual networks are our spaces that are not exactly marked as ours and there by allowing ‘intruders’ to enter without us knowing or being able to defend against with only small privacy options, such as those available on Facebook. The idea of employers Googling potential employees also comes to mind when talking about virtual networking. Majority of the time when someone Googles themselves the first thing to come up is a Facebook profile. This can end badly if you don’t watch what you or your friends post – especially if it is a degrading or demeaning post or comment. Sometimes others will push over your boundaries in a virtual network, but really what is the most you can do? Report them? But in the end what will happen to boundaries and space on virtual networks, could the ultimately disappear altogether?
ReplyDeleteReferences:
Tuan, Y. (1977). Introduction, in space and place: the perspective of experience. (pp. 3-7). London, England. Edward Arnold.
To add to your point of 'Space', you're right on virtual network our space is limited (making reference to your profile). Our profile account is at the same time private and public! Why?
ReplyDeletePrivate: Simply because it contains all our personal details (Age, place where we live, date of birth, photos, comments [which reflect what's on our mind]..)
Public: Because we make it available to the public! even though the privacy setting is on! by the public I mean your own friends.People get to know you more through your virtual network account thus this creates no need to meet.. destroying chances to real life relationships.
This emphasize a lot on how society is going, how relationships fall apart or get stronger.
And you're right when saying 'when someone googles themselves the first thing to come up is a Facebook profile.' Last time I did it and guess what? Moreover, last time my friend showed me a website which was using my picture for a specific purpose.. Anyway, all this to show that on virtual network you're never safe! Your private life is no more one, you can't keep some privacy simply because you're used to post all your 'life' on Facebook, which is a very bad thing!
I think that things will get worse unless, we, people start changing our mind and start to be more concious of what's happening around us!