In relation to the 3rd reading and the issue of conscientious objectors, I have a little story to relate.
A friend of mine had refused to join any of the social networking sites. "lame, stupid, why bother?" etc etc. Until recently that is. A few months ago he joined facebook. Why? He wasn't getting invited to parties, as people were only sending invites out through facebook.
Oh how the mighty have fallen...
7 comments:
I only joined Facebook a little while ago. Official reason: to join an academic group one of my other classes started.
But I still have my standards. I would never join MySpace.
Joking aside, though, it was interesting what Alison said in the lecture today about households with more education gravitating towards Facebook, while less-educated households tended to use MySpace. I guess it's mainly because of Facebook's roots as a college network. But you kind of get a sense of the different audiences, don't you? I've always had this feeling (even as someone who didn't use any social networking site) that Facebook was more "elite" than MySpace - like MySpace was for the rabble or something. (Sorry, MySpace users...)
I also feel that people are more... fake on myspace. The profiles seem to be chock-a-block full of poser pictures and thousands of 'friends'. Sorry myspace. I think one of the attractions to fb is that you can't change the layout. Everyone gets around in blue/white. Your profile page is set up mostly for communication, and you attract attention partly through your profile picture, but mostly through the words on your page. On myspace however, the layout design is the feature one notices first, then the top friends.
But maybe since I converted, I've become a fb snob.
I think myspace is a little bit more open to actually meeting new people, whereas facebook i wouldn't really dream of "hey, interesting profile, want to chat?" etc :p
Myspace always struck me as mainly a teenage crowd for ppl 13-16 or so, while Facebook seems to have more uni students on it. I've had both and have stuck to facebook because I got sick of complete randoms inviting me to be their friend just to up their friend count. Anyone else find this, or am I am I considered a fb snob with Therese lol ?
@Liam: That's interesting, that you find MySpace more open to meeting new people. I think one of the reasons I find social networking sites so pointless in general is that they just reproduce offline communities, and I don't see what they add. For me, online communities are about getting together with people I share interests with, people that I might not otherwise get a chance to interact with. If I wanted to hang out with my offline friends, I could, y'know, do it offline. Or send them an email or something.
Only, with social networking sites becoming so pervasive, some people don't seem to want to give you a phone call or anything, when they could just drop you a few lines on your Wall instead. So you pretty much have to be on a social networking site...
On another note, any sort of social networking site is a wonderful way to procrastinate. So if you need to find excuses to not study, either Myspace or Facebook will suit.
@ Therese: I agree it is getting sad when we substitute facebook for real face-to-face contact with friends. However it does come in useful in two situations:
1) When keeping in contact with friends interstate and overseas.
2)when you run out of phone credit.
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