Image from: http://www.slashgear.com
My Facebook lurking has increased over the past few weeks, but I've found myself lurking more and more at night time. What is it about people telling all their stories to the world at night? It's strange how we can learn more from our friends through social media now instead of actually from communicating face to face. Everyone's story is so public now. But then again, would our society have it any other way?
Western society has become so engrossed in social media over the last few years that we don't realise how much of an influence that it has on our everyday lives. "Naming is power" (Tuan, 1991, p688). This can now be linked to the power that's given to people who tell their stories on Facebook. Sharing our personal stories on Facebook is not necessarily naming, but the same principle still stands. Through sharing our stories, we give an insight to our moral insight and this provides a sense of place to the reader. This applies to " space becomes place through humans imposing meaning on it" (Van Luyn, 2013).
Place and stories all revolve around each other, when it comes to the engrossing world of Facebook. How you ask? Stories are concocted from the locations they occurred at. You see this constantly on Facebook. With the check-in feature people are able to share their story along with now sharing their place with a simple click of a button. Reading these sort of posts has made me feel more connected with that person, mainly because the place puts the story into perspective and sets a scene.
References
Tuan,
Y. (1991) Language and the Making of Place: A Narrative-Descriptive Approach. Annals of the Association of American Geographers,
Vol. 81, No. 4, pp. 688.
Van Luyn, A. (2013) BA1002: Our
Space: Networks, Narratives and the Making of Place, Lecture 5: Stories and
Places. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au
Image Credit
http://www.slashgear.com/facebook-stories-curates-the-best-of-sharing-02241481/
Image Credit
http://www.slashgear.com/facebook-stories-curates-the-best-of-sharing-02241481/
True, true, Sean… One click and our ‘in’ or ‘outed‘ as the case may be. The check in feature on Facebook is a very powerful little button. Tuan (1991) explains this as ‘calling something into being, render the invisible visible’. It not only gives you the power to claim and name your temporary place and space, it also lets everyone know where you are at this exact time. You have the power NOT to press the button and try to stay hidden, but someone else my out you by announcing YOU are with THEM at this ‘checked in’ location.
ReplyDeleteIf you like it or not, the symbols, pictures and stories attached to the check in feature construct a digital story and a digital map of your life.
Tuan, Y.-F. (1991). Language and the Making of Place: A Narrative-Descriptive Approach. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 81(4), 684-696. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8306.1991.tb01715.x