I recently read Axel Bruns’ blog titled ‘Social Networks on Ning: A Sensible Alternative to Facebook’ and even though I found he put forth good points about the social networking site Facebook, there are still has to be something that appeals to users when the numbers show they just keep going up.
Axel does bring up a valid point about the fact that so many people want to become your ‘friend’ when you have neither heard of them or spoke to them once at a party 3 years ago. This is one thing that does bug me about Facebook. I have people I went to high school with, who I either never spoke to or had a mutually relationship of dislike yet they still have sent a friend request to me. I can’t ignore them either because I do have some manners plus they would probably work it out after a while that I rejected them. I’ve had this conversation with several people before and while I think it’s stupid to do this, people say it is just out of their own curiosity that they add me. I suppose this is logical although the cynic in me suggests it is simply to gain more friends and look more popular within this social network. However, I believe this is a small price to pay when I can easily contact friends from around the globe at any time without having to wonder if they ever received the message.
Another point Axel presents is that Facebook is the ‘Net’s Hotel California’ referencing The Eagles song, Hotel California. However, it is not only Facebook which is difficult to get out of. There have been many stories where users on MySpace have not been able to delete their profile but have simply been told to put it onto the private setting. So really it is not only Facebook who is the monster out of the social networking sites….it’s many of them. The whole point of these websites, once they have become successful and have corporate sponsors or owners, is to retain membership so that their advertisements may be shown to the maximum number of people within their target markets. It’s a smart move when looking from a business perspective.
11 comments:
I think the reason that many people are so attracted to social networking websites is because in many ways they mimic and reflect the real social environs that the person belongs to in real life. I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t know the vast majority of people they have added and accepted as friends on Facebook – Facebook has become an echo chamber (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Echo_chamber) of real life. As a social experiment, it’s a fascinating one – who is friends with who, and how people are connected and are reconnected despite the distance in both time and location. The six degrees of separation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_degrees_of_separation) are slowly being linked, all thanks to social networking sites - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8900080125&ref=ts.
Speaking from personal experience, I find that Facebook especially is an ingenious tool, purely because it allows me to feel as though I have socialized and am connected with people despite leading a life that could negligibly be called slow paced. People can connect to one another, and people can do so without the hassle of having to schedule time and organize with one another when to physically meet up.
And while that’s all well and good, and I’m really happy to see just how fat people who I once dated have gotten, it still leaves me with the scary fact that social networking sites really are many people’s foe: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use_of_social_network_websites_in_investigations#Other_investigations. In this Orwellian nightmare, Facebook is now Big Brother. Anyone can track your movements, see what you’ve said to others, and see photos from that wedding you went to. And that’s just the beginning.
Hi Cassie,
I think you’re absolutely right about the entire Facebook ‘adding’ sager. People I have never met have been adding me (possibly because I know one of their friends) and I feel obliged to accept them purely for the fact of being ‘nice’ and not a snob. But yet these ‘friends’ simply sit in my network and I never hear from them again. I’m not sure about you, but I figure if someone is going to add me, then they must want to talk to me, so I wait for their message, but it never comes. It’s bizarre, but I guess the more friends the merrier.
You made some good points in your post, however I feel you could have elaborated, or even posted a separate blog about why these websites are ‘another business’. If you researched this a little more you would have found some very interesting information. I don’t agree that Facebook uses a lot of advertising; I think it wants to, but it’s definitely struggling in this area. In fact the minority of people who are using Facebook to advertise are not finding it effective. You can read more about this in a blog posted by Nick O’Neill (http://www.allfacebook.com/2007/11/is-facebook-advertising-effective/) who poses some very interesting arguments.
Myspace on the other hand is a major advertising business. You can’t even log into Myspace without at least five different advertisements appearing on the page. Furthermore, a lot of businesses have their own Myspace because it’s a free DIY website. Nevertheless, I agree with your statement; these networking sites do serve the purpose of connecting people, regardless of their ‘hidden agendas’.
Bree
Yeah, my housemate and I once did an IQ test and we gave our mobile numbers on the application which subscribed us to this ridiculously-priced message subscription.
However, I am still a believer in Facebook. Advertisements contravene laws and regulations in real life and the same thing will happen to digital environments. So long as the regulatory bodies are doing their work and also keep up to date with technological developments.
Hi Cass…
I’m likened to agree with you that Facebook poses a multitude of problems in relation to: privacy, the naturally varying levels of ‘friendship’ and the inability to remove oneself from it (in both an addiction sense and the endeavour to delete accounts), while still providing benefits in affording users the simple pleasures of interacting online with friends and acquaintances.
Understandably, the multi-faceted, dynamic nature of Facebook and other social networking sites is cause for critical debate – you have people who like it, the sceptics who don’t, and those that choose to sit on the fence (though, secretly have a great appreciation for it). Essentially, this evident juxtaposition of diversified attitudes towards Facebook use – complements and criticisms aside – embodies the very act of socialising in a physical, face-to-face sense; people naturally tend to agree, disagree and remain impartial anyway.
The fact that Facebook assumes main target for such arguments, I believe, is only indication of its ever-burgeoning popularity. As MySpace achieves consistent levels of use (in some cases, usage is rendered almost-dwindling), Facebook’s ubiquitous appeal can be derived from the notion that interaction on Facebook is closely aligned with that of real life. Despite the inability to differentiate friends from acquaintances from enemies with the given ‘face-value’ of Facebook (that is, from looking at the page itself) – the personalization of use and thus interaction, that is: you choose the person, the wall post and the picture you want to upload, is ultimately up to you.
Therefore, relative freedoms do exist for communication via social networking sites despite arguments to the contrary. And I also think it’s pertinent to recognize the user-friendly aspect of Facebook; Axel noted that ‘Ning’ proves to be a better alternative. But the question of its success lies in its level of universal appeal. Subsequently, real measures of successful social networking sites can and is only indicated in user-popularity. Thus, for Facebook: we must take into account those that seek advantage and benefit through their own existing user accounts are only supported by the hundreds of thousands who join per day.
Cassie, nicely encapsulated….I also disagree with the concept of Facebook being a vortex or sinkhole, as so nicely stated by Bruns in his Social Networks on Ning: A Sensible Alternative to Facebook’ blog. As a facebook user myself, the only fault I see with Facebook, is the addictive combination of all the add-ons that the user chooses to build their profile.
Firstly I want to bring forward the point that a user’s profile is personal, and the individual is in complete control of it. Even if someone does tag you, poke you or add you as a friend, the individual holds the card as to which play he makes. They can choose to participate, ignore or block. Take your pick. Therefore As Cory Doctorow recently put it in Axel’s blog, "for every long-lost chum who reaches out to me on Facebook, there's a guy who beat me up on a weekly basis through the whole seventh grade but now wants to be my buddy," it simply doesn’t matter. It is the individual’s choice, so even if he or she feels ‘intimidated,’ they make the choice as to the level of ‘privacy’ their profile has. If this involves sacrificing ‘friends’ or ’figures relating to how popular are’ so be it.
I personally have 250+ so called friends and even though I do not talk to all of these people on a regular basis, I can still keep up to date with them via the ‘home page’ – to a degree. There is never enough time in the day, and in a way, Facebook eliminates time used on ‘gossip sessions, phone calls and any form of communication, which sole purpose is to find out ‘whats news?’
You do make a good point about websites being a business at the end of the day, and yes to an extent this is true. And hence, they keep you locked into your ‘membership.’ However, Facebook has security settings which are flexible as to which level you want your profile viewed. This has been exposed in the media through the ‘Stephanie Rice Saga.’ I also now have set my profile to private in all aspects, so that if you are not a direct friend, you do not have access to my profile, information on the home page or details.
I would say in total honesty, I am on Facebook once a day to check notifications. I definitely agree that Facebook is a mere tool to connect people. How you choose to do that is then up to you, as there are many functions that allow you to do that. By the way, Axel also said there was no way to decipher between family and ‘thick and thin’ friends. Beg to differ. There are add-ons such as Top Friends and Family Tree, so that if u desire this breakdown, the alternative exists, it simply requires time to upload the necessary tools.
So I dare to say that Axel’s statement ‘‘Facebook's enforced flattening of the complexities of social relationships into a binary yes/no choice dilutes the salience of its social network to the point of uselessness,’ is in fact false. My social relationships are far from yes/no choices and I find facebook more than useful.
For so long I had a vendetta against MySpace. I did not want to sign up. The type of people that used the site were/are really infuriating. Soon many of my close friends had joined up, and I found myself out of the loop. So, reluctantly, I signed up. I browsed trashy profiles and read comments with glittery text. I hated it, but I loved it. Within six months the same thing happened with Facebook. However, I appear to have stuck with this one. I like the plain Jane look of it and the fact that I can hide the SuperWall box on every profile I view. However one problem, the biggest one, recurs.
Friend requests. I do not have the problem you seem to have Cassie, with complete and utter strangers adding me. I am bombarded with people I went to high school with asking me to be their friend. I never liked them. Most of them were idiots. Boys from the rugby team I may have spoken to once when asking them to stop leaning on my locker when I was trying to put my books away. Is it ok to say no?
Ahh, social networking etiquette. It has become quite the topic of discussion. I have been browsing articles on the subject, and I have discovered that there are whole websites dedicated to MySpace manners. One that I found amusing is actually from the relatively reputable site Wired.com, “Save Face on Facebook: Facebook Etiquette” ( http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Save_Face_on_Facebook:_Facebook_Etiquette ). I find the idea that there are instructions on how to use these sites, SOCIAL sites, amusing. It should be simple. If or on and offline lives are converging, we should be able to figure out what to do for ourselves.
I ended up turning that jock’s request down. I would like to say that I’ve learnt, or that I adhere to my principles, but only an hour ago I accepted one from a girl I intentionally stopped talking to in grade nine. Oh dear.
I totally agree with you about the ‘adding friends’ topic that you and Axel brought up. I was put in the situation where someone from my high school added me as a ‘friend’ and I could describe him as anything but a friend. I think that people add you as there friend simply to feel loved and a sense of belonging (Maslow's hierarchy of needs), in hope that you will post something nice about them and make them feel better about themselves. Although, I do acknowledge that not all Facebook addicts are that bad… Another grip I have with Facebook and mySpace is that you spend hours upon hours getting your profile to look great and then another SNS comes along that is better than yours and you have to start from scratch again. Has anyone else had this problem?
I did find your opinion on the business side of these sites very interesting but not lacking in supporting research. There are other ways of making money on websites besides advertising. For example, websites can participate in affiliate marketing programs as well as selling the information on their members to companies. This is probably not the case with the larger SNS because of privacy and security issues but the smaller ones like Meetup.com and Threadless.com would actively engage these tactics. You can read more on these methods on this blog (http://platinum-success-systems.com/blog/?p=7).
Hey Cassie,
I totally agree that people add so-called "friends" just so they look really popular. Maybe this is a reflection of insecurity because there are also people like me who just choose to reject people I don't know (unless I feel I would like to get to know them) - I think I have less than 30 "friends" on my profile and all of them are genuine friends who I want to keep uin touch with. While Axel has a valid point, I don't think people should complain about the problem of having so many "friends" they barely even know if they choose to add them in the first place - after all you do get the choice.
Personally I don't have the time to "muck around" on Facebook watching videos and using all the other features - I have made the mistake of uploading some of the extra apps and I got so annoyed because it seems with every click an advertisment for something would pop up. So like you said, Ithink the fact that Facebook is so hard to leave is to do with keeping clients for sponsorship purposes!
I kind of like the idea that you can send virtual flowers, cards, kisses, hugs, drinks etc. to friends because in day to day life it seems we get so busy and caught up in other things that gestures like that get put aside - with Facebook it only takes a minute to let someone know you are thinking of them and you can send them something for FREE! Good for us students who are short on cash!!
Maybe the solution to the "friends" problem is to just call them "contacts". Anyhow, I am not a Facebook junkie but I like that it's there for casual use - I get to keep in touch with my cousins who live in America who I only get to see about once every 2 or 3 years and see what they are up to.
BlueRay or HDV? Myspace or FaceBook? These are the questions that we struggle with as a society. Social networking sites like Myspace and Facebook work on the premise that: “if your friends use it, so will you”. They snowball in popularity, and as one loses flavour or is replaced by the next trend, its users (and their friends) jump-ship, like the new black, denying they were ever really into the previous.
Like any business, they are there to make money. Offering a free service to its users is made possible by the money it makes through advertising. As such, its primary business interest is in keeping its user base numbers high through various gimmicks and strategies. In a massive online forum, such as this, there is an overwhelming need to find a sense of unity. Just like finding a class mate (friend or not) in a huge city on the other side of the world encourages more than the usual “g’day”, there is a sense of group identity to be found by adding people, you actually have met, to be your friend online.
Don't forget, that you do have the power to ignore friend requests on facebook. A way around the ethical dilemma of 'manners' described in your blog would be to block the person trying to add you from searching for you on facebook.
They'll just think you deleted your profile.
Otherwise I agree with what you are saying, it is a valuable tool that links people from all over the world. And it is surprising to see how we are all connected.
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