I have a Facebook account. The feeds are being sent to others who are designated as being a 'friend', as opposed to everyone who might be a member of a larger user group (i.e., University of Illinois). Individual users control this designation by choosing to accept or decline an invitation to be someone's friend. What's interesting is that the people who seem to be joining the protest groups are those who have a large number of friends (200-plus), and also those who might have accepted invitations to be friends when the other person was an acquaintance of sorts. The number of friends one has is a status symbol for some students with Facebook accounts. This information has come out in conversations with undergrad students here on campus who have accounts. I get invitations to be friends with others here at the university who do not know me, but have heard about me from one of their friends, teachers, or other connections here on campus. It also appears this practice is one that is feeding feelings related to Facebook invading a person's privacy, as opposed to reconizing this software has been enabling this process all along through search and hyperlink functions. /Gail ***************************** Gail D. Taylor, M.Ed. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Human Resource Education Ph.D. Student Educational Psychology Teaching Assistant "We can't just have mainstream behavior on television in a free society. We have to make sure we see the whole panorama of human behavior." -- Jerry Springer
What's interesting is that the people who seem to be joining the protest groups are those who have a large number of >friends (200-plus), and also those who might have accepted invitations to be friends when the other person was an >acquaintance of sorts.
As an interpersonal communication scholar observing the Facebook changes and subsequent user response, I am intrigued by Facebook's use of the term "friend". Zuckerberg's blog post defending the changes (pointed out by a previous poster: http://blog.facebook.com/) turns on the word: Only "friends" can see your changes, "friends" could see them before, it's a good thing to share your life with your "friends". And so on. Yet, as we know intuitively (and a wealth of personal relationship research and theory indicates), not all friendships are equal in intimacy, social meaning, and (most critically) information flow. Petronio's communication privacy management theory seems very apt here: the theory claims that people specify boundaries and rules for how and what information is shared with others, and experience distress when those boundaries and rules are violated. Facebook rewrote the site's rules for information flow between people---and, as the theory predicts, distress ensued. Quite simply, it seems to me that the site's designed have forgotten that the term "friend", as used by Facebook, is a metaphor. The metaphor includes all different kinds of friends---casual friends, close friends, best friends, acquaintances, former friends---and lumps in with them coworkers, classmates, relatives, teachers (much to some students' dismay), and people that you only invited to be your "friend" as a status symbol. Facebook permits no meaningful differentiation between these categories (other than a note specifying how you know the person, which does not influence information flow). Thus, while information privacy is an important construct in this debate, it seems that, here, the construct cannot be divorced from the meaning attached to such information within the context of specific interpersonal relationships. And Facebook's site design doesn't seem to map onto the topography of most people's daily relationships very well. Andrew M. Ledbetter Doctoral Candidate and Graduate Teaching Assistant Department of Communication Studies University of Kansas
The whole Facebook discussion is absolutely fascinating. I love how this list thinks! I was interviewed by our campus paper about it yesterday and among many of the ideas already presented here I also expressed the importance of "personal brand" management that today's die-hard internet user needs to become acclimated to. I think what we're seeing with the Facebook backlash is more about a maturation of personal data management than a problem with "stalkerish" behavior. Digital social networks are rather new in the big picture and it takes time for communities to acclimate to any such tool. Sometimes it takes a shift like this one to make users more reflective and critical of their use and that's never a bad thing in my book. I also think it's truly fascinating that the protesters are using Facebook itself as a tool to organize. There must be a sense of commitment to the technology there that I haven't quite wrapped my brain around yet. It's also important to see this reactionary behavior in a bigger sense. Unlike an offline protest that would actually require folks to get out into the street and organize, participating in an online revolt is often a click,type,click level of participation. I could sign about a dozen online petitions in ten minutes. How dedicated can I really be to the cause if this is all the effort I have to put in to take part? Sarah "Intellagirl" Robbins Ball State University, Muncie IN On 9/7/06, 'Gail Taylor <gdtaylor@uiuc.edu> wrote:
I have a Facebook account. The feeds are being sent to others who are designated as being a 'friend', as opposed to everyone who might be a member of a larger user group (i.e., University of Illinois). Individual users control this designation by choosing to accept or decline an invitation to be someone's friend. What's interesting is that the people who seem to be joining the protest groups are those who have a large number of friends (200-plus), and also those who might have accepted invitations to be friends when the other person was an acquaintance of sorts.
The number of friends one has is a status symbol for some students with Facebook accounts. This information has come out in conversations with undergrad students here on campus who have accounts. I get invitations to be friends with others here at the university who do not know me, but have heard about me from one of their friends, teachers, or other connections here on campus. It also appears this practice is one that is feeding feelings related to Facebook invading a person's privacy, as opposed to reconizing this software has been enabling this process all along through search and hyperlink functions.
/Gail
***************************** Gail D. Taylor, M.Ed. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Human Resource Education Ph.D. Student Educational Psychology Teaching Assistant
"We can't just have mainstream behavior on television in a free society. We have to make sure we see the whole panorama of human behavior." -- Jerry Springer _______________________________________________ The air-l@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
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-- Sarah "Intellagirl" Robbins http://www.intellagirl.com http://secondlife.intellagirl.com Yahoo: Intellagirl Skype: Intellagirl SecondLife: Intellagirl Tully
I like Sarah's last paragraph (below). I am not really impressed with these protests at all, these are (mostly?) undergrads we are talking about. Yes, there are some awesome undergrads I have been lucky enough to have in my classes, but at MSU they riot in the streets over changes in beer policy (this was a few years ago). Just today I was walking behind some on campus (UM) and one was saying how he spent $100 at the bar but didn't remember that or how he hurt his hand in a fight with a wrestler in the bathroom. I am left feeling there are far more important things in the world to focus on, and here we have a big dust-up over a social networking site or whatever you want to call it (I don't mean that in a negative way, I am acknowledging that there are different labels one might use). The reaction is interesting, but ultimately I find it rather pathetic. Yes, I know, identity politics. It's important to the undergrads. But overall it isn't important at all. Five years from now? Irrelevant. That's not to say it shouldn't be of interest here, but the greater importance is lacking. A few days ago there was a report I read about in the NYTimes and I forget the details (like who ran it) but they found that of people who believed there was a cover-up of some sort in 9/11, a larger percentage of people who got their news primarily from the Internet thought there was a cover-up (US gov) compared to those who primarily got their news from other sources. Not that the internet makes you stupid, but I think that is really interesting, and rather disturbing. ndp... On Sep 7, 2006, at 4:40 PM, Sarah Brooke Robbins wrote:
The whole Facebook discussion is absolutely fascinating. I love how this list thinks!
I was interviewed by our campus paper about it yesterday and among many of the ideas already presented here I also expressed the importance of "personal brand" management that today's die-hard internet user needs to become acclimated to. I think what we're seeing with the Facebook backlash is more about a maturation of personal data management than a problem with "stalkerish" behavior. Digital social networks are rather new in the big picture and it takes time for communities to acclimate to any such tool. Sometimes it takes a shift like this one to make users more reflective and critical of their use and that's never a bad thing in my book.
I also think it's truly fascinating that the protesters are using Facebook itself as a tool to organize. There must be a sense of commitment to the technology there that I haven't quite wrapped my brain around yet.
It's also important to see this reactionary behavior in a bigger sense. Unlike an offline protest that would actually require folks to get out into the street and organize, participating in an online revolt is often a click,type,click level of participation. I could sign about a dozen online petitions in ten minutes. How dedicated can I really be to the cause if this is all the effort I have to put in to take part?
Sarah "Intellagirl" Robbins Ball State University, Muncie IN
On 9/7/06, 'Gail Taylor <gdtaylor@uiuc.edu> wrote:
I have a Facebook account. The feeds are being sent to others who are designated as being a 'friend', as opposed to everyone who might be a member of a larger user group (i.e., University of Illinois). Individual users control this designation by choosing to accept or decline an invitation to be someone's friend. What's interesting is that the people who seem to be joining the protest groups are those who have a large number of friends (200-plus), and also those who might have accepted invitations to be friends when the other person was an acquaintance of sorts.
The number of friends one has is a status symbol for some students with Facebook accounts. This information has come out in conversations with undergrad students here on campus who have accounts. I get invitations to be friends with others here at the university who do not know me, but have heard about me from one of their friends, teachers, or other connections here on campus. It also appears this practice is one that is feeding feelings related to Facebook invading a person's privacy, as opposed to reconizing this software has been enabling this process all along through search and hyperlink functions.
/Gail
***************************** Gail D. Taylor, M.Ed. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Human Resource Education Ph.D. Student Educational Psychology Teaching Assistant
"We can't just have mainstream behavior on television in a free society. We have to make sure we see the whole panorama of human behavior." -- Jerry Springer _______________________________________________ The air-l@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http:// aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
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-- Sarah "Intellagirl" Robbins http://www.intellagirl.com http://secondlife.intellagirl.com Yahoo: Intellagirl Skype: Intellagirl SecondLife: Intellagirl Tully _______________________________________________ The air-l@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http:// listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
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------------------------------- Nathaniel Poor, Ph.D. Professor, Retired http://www.umich.edu/~natpoor
I am not really impressed with these protests at all, these are (mostly?) undergrads we are talking about.
I'm a bit uncomfortable dismissing the protesters' concerns merely because of their age and social position---yet, I feel like I see a tendency to do so when discussing this issue (an interesting statement about social cognition itself). In comparison, a number of years ago (sometime in the early or mid 90s, I think), the state of Oregon enabled easier access to individual Department of Motor Vehicles records. The result was general public anger and concern about privacy, and the law was soon changed. If older adults can protest perceived violations of privacy, should not young adults and teenagers have a right to do so as well and have their concerns given a fair hearing? It raises intriguing questions: How would we think about this protest if Facebook was a site made up of middle-aged adults? Would the protest even occur in that case? Would the news media cover it differently if it did? Andrew M. Ledbetter Doctoral Candidate and Graduate Teaching Assistant Department of Communication Studies University of Kansas
My comment wasn't really regarding their age. It was regarding the effort it takes to participate in an online protest. If signing the petition required that they delete their profile (or even walk outside or some other significant effort) I think we'd see a lot fewer signing up. On 9/7/06, Ledbetter, Andrew Michael <aledbett@ku.edu> wrote:
I am not really impressed with these protests at all, these are (mostly?) undergrads we are talking about.
I'm a bit uncomfortable dismissing the protesters' concerns merely because of their age and social position---yet, I feel like I see a tendency to do so when discussing this issue (an interesting statement about social cognition itself). In comparison, a number of years ago (sometime in the early or mid 90s, I think), the state of Oregon enabled easier access to individual Department of Motor Vehicles records. The result was general public anger and concern about privacy, and the law was soon changed. If older adults can protest perceived violations of privacy, should not young adults and teenagers have a right to do so as well and have their concerns given a fair hearing?
It raises intriguing questions: How would we think about this protest if Facebook was a site made up of middle-aged adults? Would the protest even occur in that case? Would the news media cover it differently if it did?
Andrew M. Ledbetter Doctoral Candidate and Graduate Teaching Assistant Department of Communication Studies University of Kansas
_______________________________________________ The air-l@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
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-- Sarah "Intellagirl" Robbins http://www.intellagirl.com http://secondlife.intellagirl.com Yahoo: Intellagirl Skype: Intellagirl SecondLife: Intellagirl Tully
Sarah - I would have thought that Hirschman's classic exit-voice-loyalty scheme is particularly appropriate to the [specific] case of digital activism, especially re youth. [you may want to see http://www.springerlink.com/content/k18t27678h637534/#search=%22Hirschman's% 20%20exit%22] Meshing strategies [and pushing boundaries] if relatively easier in the digital domain, I reckon? Just a thought Wainer
-----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Sarah Brooke Robbins Sent: 07 September 2006 22:44 To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: Re: [Air-l] Facebook protests
My comment wasn't really regarding their age. It was regarding the effort it takes to participate in an online protest. If signing the petition required that they delete their profile (or even walk outside or some other significant effort) I think we'd see a lot fewer signing up.
On 9/7/06, Ledbetter, Andrew Michael <aledbett@ku.edu> wrote:
I am not really impressed with these protests at all, these are (mostly?) undergrads we are talking about.
I'm a bit uncomfortable dismissing the protesters' concerns
merely because
of their age and social position---yet, I feel like I see a tendency to do so when discussing this issue (an interesting statement about social cognition itself). In comparison, a number of years ago (sometime in the early or mid 90s, I think), the state of Oregon enabled easier access to individual Department of Motor Vehicles records. The result was general public anger and concern about privacy, and the law was soon changed. If older adults can protest perceived violations of privacy, should not young adults and teenagers have a right to do so as well and have their concerns given a fair hearing?
It raises intriguing questions: How would we think about this protest if Facebook was a site made up of middle-aged adults? Would the protest even occur in that case? Would the news media cover it differently if it did?
Andrew M. Ledbetter Doctoral Candidate and Graduate Teaching Assistant Department of Communication Studies University of Kansas
_______________________________________________ The air-l@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
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-- Sarah "Intellagirl" Robbins http://www.intellagirl.com http://secondlife.intellagirl.com Yahoo: Intellagirl Skype: Intellagirl SecondLife: Intellagirl Tully _______________________________________________ The air-l@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
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participants (5)
-
'Gail Taylor -
Ledbetter, Andrew Michael -
Nathaniel Poor -
Sarah Brooke Robbins -
Wainer Lusoli