Power of Facebook: user vs. profile

Few days ago I watched an episode of Southpark. It was interesting, because it was about Facebook and obsession with number of friends (you can watch episode here). But the question mentioned there give me a lot to think about: Who is more powerful on Facebook? The user or the profile?

As we know, Facebook is currently number one in social network sites. And the question is, does the profile on Facebook say who you really are in real life. On that topic I found an interesting article from Sonia Livingstone: "Taking risky opportunities in youthful content creation: teenagers' use of social networking sites for intimacy, privacy and self-expression". It is about the presentation of teenagers on Facebook and how they present themselves who they are. She is writing:

"While younger teenagers relish the opportunities to recreate continuously a highly-decorated, stylistically-elaborate identity, older teenagers favour a plain aesthetic that foregrounds their links to others, thus expressing a notion of identity lived through authentic relationships."

This is very interesting point because through interviews she did, she discovered that for example older teenagers prefer Facebook to Myspace, because the first is more "sophisticated" and they feel more grown up. They can really show who they are through various profile information but they also admit that this kind of identity is shaped by peers.

Another interesting discovery was that teenagers, no matter how many Facebook friends they have (here we are talking about hundreds of friends), they still can separate those friends so they realise which of them are real one and which of them are just "virtual" living on Facebook. So for conclusion, answer on question of power user versus profile is not so easy. Users have power to manage their profiles but this is actually done under the pressure of self-representation. So in the battle user vs. profile, the score is indecisive.



Source: Livingstone, Sonia. 2008. Taking risky opportunities in youthful content creation: teenagers' use of social networking sites for intimacy, privacy and self-expression. New Media and Society 10 (3): 393-411. Available on: http://nms.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/10/3/393

I am mayor of 4sq

Last week I found a new application (or I do not know how to name it) called Foursquare. It is "a cross between a friend-finder, a social city-guide and a game that rewards you for doing interesting things. We aim to build things to not only help you keep up with the places your friends go, but that encourage you to discover new places and challenge you to explore your neighborhood in new ways." It is mobile application and through mobile phone you are checking-in on different places. You can also write tips (like bacon in xy restaurant is very good) or can collect badges (you become mayor of certain place, when you check-in more then anyone). You also collect points (for which is not yet known how to use them in real world) and it is interesting that some companies (like coffee shops or restaurants) are offering for example free coffee for those who become mayors of this place. So this application can be personal or can be another tool for different companies for making promotion. Oh and did I mention it is also compatible with Twitter and Facebook?

Of course this kind of application raises many different questions. Mostly questions about privacy and personal data. Maybe for some people this kind of real-life/on-line game is intriguing and funny to play but for me is a whole leap for making our real lives more and more compatible with on-line. Why would you share information where are you with everyone (well with your friends but if you share this also on Facebook and Twitter this "friends" become more loose concept)? Location is very sensitive personal data and should not be shared with everyone. So I think that 4sq is just another application which is pushing the limits of our real life. And also it is interesting that concept of gaming which is traditionally connected with online world and identity is becoming more in more interwoven with real life. If we think that Second World was new and controversial, 4sq is even more because of our personal data and security.

About This Particular Blog And Some First Thoughts

Hello everybody!

This blog is one of assignments for course New Media & Society, which is taking place on Faculty of Social Science in Ljubljana, Slovenia (well just virtually, real lectures are taking place in the Netherlands). And first of all I should introduce myself. I am post graduate student on Communication Science - Communication, Media and Society program. I graduated last year in Media and Communication studies in Ljubljana and title of my diploma was Media representation of ethical consumerism.

In my four years of undergraduate study I had relatively large amount of courses, which were related to new technologies. I am personally very interested in new media, because I think that it has lot of consequences on our everyday life, from everyday processes like shopping to more delicate topics like democratization or public opinion.Regarding to this seminar I want to upgrade my existing knowledge and I also have plan to write my master degree regarding on new media.

I use some social networks sites like Facebook, I read some blogs (and now I also write one) and personally I try to follow novelties that are on internet. I am everyday surprised with new things that I discover regarding to technology or to changed life as consequence of internet. I also use online literature resources and social science databases like Sage or Ebscohost and I think that these are very handy for students.
Personally I am very interested in new consumer culture that has occurred and changed with spread of internet and online shopping. I would like to know what these changes are and what they brought to process of consuming. And I am also interested in virtual communities such as different forums in connection with consuming and if forums have influence on peoples’ consuming decisions and wishes. Topics that also intrigue me are those which are related to virtual identity. Do people really change their real identity for sake of being someone else on internet? Don Slater (author that wrote article about Social relationships and identity online and offline; also book about Consumer culture) is writing about disembodiment as a process where virtual identity divide from physical presence. So maybe is internet in field of identity fluidity next step of postmodern identity?

New technologies have a great impact on our life and it's not just technology the cause for society changes, but also consequence of them. And this blog will bring some critical writings about changes and about New media and society.

Thanks for reading!