Facebook or Foodbook?

Image 1: [Untitled image of food]

In today’s society, food is not just simply food (Kuttainen, 2013).  It represents and highlights the extreme contrasts regarding both worldwide hunger and obesity, two factors that are seemingly complete opposites, but are actually more related than one may first think. In today’s times the hunger of 800 million people is heavily outweighed by a staggeringly one billion people who are obese (Patel, 2007). It is of no real surprise that so many people are obese nowadays, especially considering how much food plays a role in our lives, both in a real and virtual sense.

It is extremely uncommon to go a day on Facebook where food is not seen in some way, shape or form. Advertising is one of the main ways food plays a role on Facebook. Leading fast food companies such as McDonalds and Hungry Jacks are always advertising special offers and discounts as a reward if you ‘like’ their Facebook page, which as with any page you like, shows up to all of your friends, thus encouraging them to like the page as well. The other main form food takes shape in on Facebook is by that of your friends posting photos of their meals. Food is seen as an important expression of identity for us as individuals (Atkins & Bowler, 2001), and by being able to share this online via social media, it allows people the capability to share this form of expression of their personal identity with a large group. More reasons as to why individuals share images of their food is explored in an article by Susan Albers. Overall, the part food plays on social media, particularly that of Facebook, really shows how much of an important and impacting role it has in our modern day society.

 

Reference List:

Albers, S. (2010). 10 reasons why people post food pictures on Facebook. Retrieved 11 September,
             2013, from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/comfort-cravings/201008/10-reasons-             why-people-post-food-pictures-facebook

Atkins, P., & Bowler, I. (2001). The origins of taste, in Food in society: Economy, culture, geography
              (pp. 272-293). London, England: Arnold.

Kuttainen, V. (2013). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, Narratives, and the Making of Place, Lecture
             7 [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au

Patel, R. (2007). Introduction, in Stuffed and starved: The hidden battle for the world's food system
             (pp. 1-19). Toronto, Canada: Harper Perennial.

Image Credits:

Image 1: [Untitled image of food]. (n.d.). Retrieved 11 September, 2013, from
             http://a.abcnews.com/images/Technology/gty_restaurant_food_photo_ll_130124_wg.jpg