WS 3371 Fall 2007

I hear a lot of people say that they are addicted to Facebook, many of them saying that they spend hours of their time just... looking at it. I'm not entirely sure what one could do on Facebook for hours at a time, because every time i go there i spend about five or ten minutes and run out of things to do. The longest i have ever spent on the site is two hours, and that was when i got involved in this Pets application thing... i have a bit of a sweet spot for RPGs.

Admittedly, i can see how scrolling through picture albums or snooping around someone's posted information can suck up some time, but i feel too... creepy doing it. Unless i was a part of the album, i don't look at it, and i haven't ever sat down and read anyone's "Info" section at all. The most i do is glance at their AIM screenname or their phone number when i need them.

I imagine the reason Facebook redid its security settings is as a way to protect its users from getting fired or getting in trouble at school or at work for posting compromising pictures easily attainable by the higher ups. Honestly i think the people who did that should have known better. Oh well.

Facebook, another "verbal" term that I have learned first year in college along with words such as "google" it. I remember when my first time hearing do you have a facebook? I thought it was something like a notebooks that has everyone's contacting on it, so while I was chatting with them, I was out of their "facebook" topic. Its funny I have never heard of such a sentence before I came to college. Just facebook me and leave me a message. I believe when this sorts of technology comes out, it will always comes with a new terms of using the technology. The technology have not only change the way we live, it also changes the way we communite with one another. Facebook is one of the classical example that support my statements.
And without a doubt, facebook have changed the way I communite with my friend, the communication pattern is now heavily based on the cyber social network, I can get my friends just updated information in just few second, its a very efficient way to get information from the others.

I found the “Friends, Friendsters, and Top 8…” article to be really interesting, because it’s so true. Being friends on facebook does not mean you’re friends in real life. It seems that each person on facebook has his/her own complication rules about whether or not to accept a friend invite. And then whether you intended to or not, pretty soon your friend list is full of people you don’t even like. That’s happened to me, and then this morning I decided to do a “facebook purge” and just started deleting people. But then I began to feel bad because what if they noticed? Then I realized that was kind of foolish because I didn't even like them so I just went ahead and hit delete.

One thing that seemed pretty common in the articles was that unless you’re actively involved with facebook, myspace and what not, you just don’t seem to get it. I can understand that because when I first heard about facebook I thought it was pretty stupid. And then I signed up and now use it all the time. I’ve also noticed that once you get into it, you get possessive over it. I remember the outrage (aka the numerous groups created) on facebook when it was announced that it would open up to high school students and then similar outrage when it opened up for everyone. It just seemed that facebook was no longer an exclusive, secret club.

I think facebook has its pros and cons. It offers a way to exchange information with a click of a button. People are open to put whatever information they want about themselves on facebook. I think that people should keep their information simple. It is ridiculous when someone has a whole essay in their profile about themselves. I also use facebook to get photos from other people's cameras. Before facebook, it is a hassle to try to get pictures taken from other people's cameras. Now, going on facebook can usually find the pictures you want. It also acts as a good reminder for birthdays to avoid any confrontation from your friends.

In my mind, facebook is a less formal way to communicate with friends. Instead of calling them and talking to them, leaving a message on facebook is even less formal than text messenging. People would often write "what are you doing tonight? Call me" on my wall. Then I thought, that was a pointless message because they could've just called me instead.

Even though I know the cons from Facebook, I still find myself using it as one of my main form of communication. I prefer using the phone/text but there are certain friends that are just all about the Facebook. Also, the more applications and complications they add to the Facebook, the less and less I am impressed with it. I liked it much better in the beginning when Facebook was more simple. There were some great improvements since the beginning, but they added more junk on there than improvements.

One of the most common questions that I was asked during freshman year was, “are you on facebook?” The first time someone chimed this phrase I was rather confused because I had no idea what facebook was, then after I had investigated a little bit I found the infamous social site. I created an account just for the sake of having one, and I really didn’t care about who had my email address due to the wonderful feature of blocking from senders or domains in general. For awhile I found myself passing a few hours here and there during the week browsing my actual friends profiles, and sometimes people I had gotten to know in my dorm or on the rest of the swimming and diving team. Based off of what the readings suggested about “friending” people, I guess I was out of the norm. I readily used the decline option for people that I really didn’t know or didn’t spent a vast majority of my time with, I had no interest in the number of friends displayed on the area below my picture (which I liked to change almost every other day at first) I guess that I used facebook, and still do, as more of a white-pages kind of directory if I want to get ahold of any of my friends.
I do see how it could be addicting to people though, especially if your interesting in analyzing someone that you have just met (the profiles can say a lot about a person, positive or negative). I guess the one thing that I don’t understand is why do some people decide to put pictures of illicit activities on their profile? Honestly, your just asking for some kind of trouble when you place it out in the public... especially if you’re on an athletic team for an NCAA participating school (story behind this, but I will not say anything on a public blog...). I also wonder if it is possible for someone to have 1,000,000 actual friends and be connected with them in one way or another (or even remember all of them), I think that if I did I would die of some kind of societal brain overload.

All of my friends had facebook for about a year and a half before they finally persuaded me to start my own account. Before then everyone was always so surprised that I did not have it (because everyone did), but for the most part I did not feel like I was missing out. They would talk about spending hours of their time on facebook and I didn't think I had the time to do that. From its beginnings people talked about how facebook cut into time that normally would have been focused on other activities. With everything that high school and college kids are expected to do today it just seems to cause more stress through its consumption of valuable time.

I just recently deactivated my account. I started to feel too much of an obligation to respond to messages and wall posts. Just like the cell phone that everyone expects you to answer, people are insulted when they don't receive a response to a wall post or message. Facebook just became an annoyance.

I also felt weird about having pictures online for everyone to see, even after I set my security settings. And even though I deactivated my account recently, my picture will still show up online when people look at my freinds' pictures... I don't know how I feel about that. To a small degree I feel like I don't have control over my own privacy.

I was never into the whole social networking sites thing up until probably a year ago when one of my friends kind of pushed me into it and I decided 'I guess I can try it.' I'm still not into it like most of my friends. When I'm on it (once every other day probably) I spend roughly a couple minutes. How some people spend hours on it each day, I have no idea.

One thing I do like about facebook over myspace is the much fewer advertisements. But I've noticed that facebook is increasing their advertisements it seems like. I can see facebook having just as many advertisements like myspace in a few years.

I enjoyed reading about how the internet's social networking sites have evolved over the years. Before this assignment I had never even heard of Friendster, the precursor to services like my space and Facebook. These latter systems seem to be far more commercialized versions of the former, a tool for marketing and research campaigns. While some may argue this function has begun to dominate the intimacy of the community the majority seem to embrace these new features to the point where the old servers are almost obsolete. The articles also do a great job of getting one to think about what community really means and how this has been redefined by the new styles of communication.

I had already been thinking about this ever since one of my lab partners announced proudly that she had somewhere around 12,000 friends, a true collector. While she admitted how only a few of these people were real life contacts, she got some satisfaction by defining herself by the number not the quality of her "friendships".

"Facebook it"! This is a common phrase that I hear amongst my peers all of the time. Call me the late bloomer because I vowed not to get caught up into the web of Facebook and MySpace, and while I'm typing this blog, I'm logged on to both!

It's very easy to get caught up in. It started off with people telling me that they had pictures of me or that they saw pictures of me. Because I wanted to see these pictures, I had to create my own log in name and the rest is history. I've fallen in love with these social networking sites. Though I've been members of both sites for a short period, I've found them to be an easy way to communicate with people that you may not have seen in years.

Another networking site that I frequent is GreekChat. I've been a member there since 2002 and I absolutely love it. It feels great to be able to get your thoughts out to the cyber world without someone passing judgement against you. It's really fun.

Am I addicted to social network sites? I will say that I'm not addicted, but I can see how easily addicting it can be. If these sites weren't blocked at my job, I could see myself logged on all day while at work. That's pretty sad!

I admittedly enjoy having a facebook account. I find it particularly helpful in keeping in touch with all of my friends from back home. Prior to transferring to the U, I went to the University of Wyoming, while I grew up in Colorado. Many of my friends are now married and moving all over the country so it is hard to keep in touch like we used to. I have such a scattered amount of friends that I can’t always get a hold of them on the phone. One person may be at work in a different time zone while another is out with their husband for a dinner date so it’s hard to always talk on the phone as often as I would like. Therefore, facebook helps me stay in touch with all of the people, most of whom I have known since kindergarten, that mean the most to me. I can just write them a quick message on their wall, or send an email to let them know I’m thinking about them and want to talk when they have a chance. I also think that some of the additional applications are kind of fun. I’ll find myself sending a drink or a virtual gift to one of my friends on their birthdays since I can’t physically be there to celebrate with them. Or, I'll send them a cute sticker or picture that reminds me of a memory I share with one of them. I think it a great way to stay in touch, or reconnect with people from your present as well as past.

On the other hand facebook and other online communities can be a little unsettling. I do not have a myspace account because everyone could have one. Just recently facebook went from being a college only community to a global one, which I don’t really like. There are always stories on the news about people being lured through myspace which used to not be a factor since facebook was college students only, but now who’s to say what could happen. I think that it’s good that facebook has so many security options to protect its users. I made sure to set my options to only allow my friends to see my information. I think this option ensures that users are protected. If they do not want their information to be shared with others they can protect themselves and not allow it to be shared, so I guess I don’t quite understand why some people don’t. I thought the articles where very interesting because they are all very true, especially the one about adding friends. I have gotten many requests from people I don’t even know wanting to be my friend. I find it a little creepy that someone who doesn’t even know me wants to see all my information and be friends. I find myself feeling bad saying no, but then I realize that I don’t even know them. There is just this strange connection people have to each other through facebook which makes them want to be connected even if they have never met

I admit it. I have been known to snoop on peoples facebook walls to see what's up. I have done the whole wall to wall thing where you follow two people's conversation. It's basically like a little soap opera, and also pointless. For the most part you don't even know what's going on and you dream up ridiculous scenarios in your head. But why do people do this? because I know many people do or have done some facebook stalking in their life.

I also realized that I did more facebooking when I was a freshmen and have since cut back. I think when I was a freshman I was just so excited to have access to all these peoples personal info that I wanted to see what they were all about. Perhaps this was how the habit started. Anyways, now I just go on facebook to look at my friends new albums, check my profile and events. I have less time on my hands to waste it traveling throughout facebook which is entertaining but pointless....like a soap opera.

In Boyd's article, she first tried to define "friend". On social networking sites, I think that friends and acquaintences are lumped together. The online profile is there for people to see, so being judged by your "friends" is to be expected if you like it or not. It is a natural thing to do. I am not too familiar with My Space, so the top 8 thing is new to me. I can see how it can cause drama, but if your "friend" gets mad about his or her ranking he or she probably are not a real friend. I am not on the Facebook. My friends are always telling me I should join. I guess I just don't feel comfortable reducing myself to an online profile. The viewer of that profile would then place a judgement on me, and I don't think it would be accurate. Not everyone on Facebook uses it in the same way. It can be a valuble tool for some, but I have also heard people say that it is adding a superficial element to their true friendships.

In Bugeja's article, the stats pertaining to the amonut of people in a classroom read the New York times or watched the news verses the amount of people who had visited facebook the previous day was very scary. I find it the way this article layed out the facts very uncomforting. Our generation, my generation, is exposing themselves to a virtual reality so frequently that we forget about the ACUTAL reality around us. We forget what is actually forming and sculpting this virtual reality. Yes, looking at pictures is fun, but when that replaces reading the news paper or scholarly articles, it is time to start to rethink our habits. The irony quoted in this article is alarming. We, as a population, forget how controlled we are. We forget that we are being exposed to advertisements that don't even appear as advertisements, such as a simple facebook group. The stupidity of a person posting photos of illeagel activity is sort of humorus. My father recently showed me an article about how the next step for lawyers is to use myspace and facebook as 'witnesses' in cases. The free evidence is accessed easy, and thought to be harmless.

The worst thing about the facebook phenomena is that American students are so flattered and excited about creating a shrine for themselves on facebook. They would rather compare, judge, and waste time thinking about their 'social network' on facebook, rather than reading about school, current events,etc.

One positive thing i forgot to mention was the use of myspace to represent musicians. In that case a 'shrine' for yourself is quite beneficial.

I remember the summer before my freshman year of college one of my friends was asking me if I had set up a facebook account yet. I had no idea what she was talking about, but she said is was cool so I got on facebook. I have a myspace account but have never set up a my page haha.

Anyway I would have to agree that facebook is a time vortex. I am personally not "addicted" to facebook, but probably spend at least 10 min on it everyday. Unless I needed to get a hold of someone or look something up; everything I do on facebook is a waste of time. I get caught up looking at friends' picture albums or building a christmas tree (new application on facebook). Then I wonder where all my time went.

What is crazy to me is how facebook has a language. Most commonly we say, " I facebooked them" which means wrote on their wall. I don't know why we need to use that word, but we do. I have also herd the term "facebook stalker". That is usally when a person spends enought time on facebook to know what their friends are doing before their friend can tell them in person.

Although facebook sucks up time, it sure is nice to get a hold of people you haven't talk to in a while or talk to someone you dont know very well.

I do have a facebook thing. I don’t do a lot with it, and do not consider my “friends” anything more then people I know and might have, at some time, the desire to communicate with. I actual do use facebook as a away to keep in touch with my class mates, and Instructors. I do not use facebook as a means of meeting new people, or as a impersonal way of socializing.

I feel social web sites are detrimental to the social skills of individuals to such a wide spread degree that society on a large scale is effected. People now have options that feel safer then real interaction with people. One needs not risk face on their ability to think and react in live social situations. It no longer requires charisma to be popular, on social sites you can have friends who know absolutely nothing real or even nothing at all about you. Intimacy and dating are not immune to the infection of internet based socializing, match making web sites have gain immense amounts of popularity. And on a slightly more taboo instance web sites promising to acquaint you with “hot local singles” now pop-up when ever a popular social site is opened. These adds target a new demographic consisting of the socially challenged people that they help create.

The end of my first year of college was when all of my friends started joining facebook it took a few months before I gave into peer pressure and joined. When I first joined I was hardly ever on the site, now I find myself on the site a few times a day, mostly as a procrastination tool. I can not even count all of the times I have heard someone start a sentence “so I saw on facebook”, the site as definitely become a way for your friends (and potential employers) to know what you are up to and who you are talking to which is not always a good thing.

In the article "Facing on Facebook", I thought it was very interesting that the someone would consider alot of the people on facebook as describing themselves as products. Not only that, but stating interests, wants, etc. on facebook also gives advertisers and marketers the key to what facebook users want. I thought this was interesting, because I had never thought of facebook in this way. I thought of it more as a way to connect and stay in touch with old friends, as well as a way to keep up with social networks.

I find it quiet halarious that facebook and myspace are on the top 10 websites visited. I say this, because look at the content of these sites. They really are nothing more than pictures and socail networking, yet I (as well as many of my fellow students) are constantly surfing myspace like a daily habit or addition. Its strange to think that such a site could have such a power over us. I remember once when I was out of state, I did not have internet access for a week. I grew a little anxious about finding out what had happened on facebook, I regret to say. I also found my free time thinking about what I would rather be doing (i.e. watching a movie or facebooking). It frightens me to think that an internet site has such a power over me.

About a month into my freshman year, a fellow freshman of mine had told me about this sweet online program that would let me “check out the people who would be in my classes.” It sounded like a simple social program, so I signed up…little did I know what facebook would turn into. Now facebook has pictures, movies, songs, Christmas trees, maps, quizzes, online poker, fantasy stock exchange, etc. The facebook has evolved into something I never would have imagined it to. I remember how skeptical I was when the picture application came out, and now there are movies, it is ridiculous. These applications provide others with a look into your personal life.
Facebook has also greatly influenced the way I contact fellow students. If I have a question about this class, all I have to do is look at a name under one of the blogs here, send a facebook message, and hope for a reply. The same goes for meeting people, if you meet someone and would like to get in contact with them, instead of having to ask for his/her phone number, all you have to do is remember the name and facebook them. I have no idea how long I will keep my account up for. I am not on that often, and I find it rather playful. It is also a good way to find out about upcoming weekend “events.”

Along with some of the other people whom have commented, I also do not have a deep need or want to go on facebook or myspace but for some reason I still continue to do it. I think that I check it more out of habit now, then actually wanting to look at something specifically. I think that we fear that we might miss out on something important, or perhaps that we are just not as well connected if we don't participate. As I was reading the articles I found myself almost surprised that I myself did not realize how these social networking sites have intergrated themselves into our lives.

However, I do not spend hours on facebook or myspace not because of lack of interest, but more so because of lack of time. I don't really understand how someone can spend so much time on facebook, where are they getting all of this extra time from? I think that for some reason it is really easy for people to become obessed with these sites. I would like to know why this occurs.One last subject I would like to address is the violation of privacy. I really think that these network site do violate our privacy to a certain extent. However, I think this is why people join sites like this. They want people to be interested in what they do and who they are.

One of my aunts recently confessed to me that one of my cousins had shown her my facebook profile. It shouldn't have made me as anxious as it did considering I don't think I have any information on it that I wouldn't want her to see.The weird stupid thing is: that it did make me nervous. Hundreds of people have access to my facebook profile and my aunt is the only person that I'm anxious about seeing it, that and my mom.
It's funny how difficult it is to describe of facebook to someone who doesn't use it. What's so great about it? They even have (or are going to have?) ads to pop up and irritate you now if you mention a product on your wall.
I found it interesting that the author of the Time article mentioned that people want to bann their kids from facebook. I can understand not using it at school, but it is not like instant messaging where it is a direct contact tool.

When I first heard about facebook I was a freshman at a small community college in Iowa. So many of my friends continually asked me if I had facebook yet and when I was going to get it. Being a rather shy and reserved individual at the time, I didn't really feel the need to become a member of facebook. If I really wanted to communicate with my friends I could talk to them face to face or by phone rather than over some silly chat line.
However, since transferring to the University of Minnesota, I have made a facebook accout. Since doing this I have noticed that my life has become more stressful in a way. Before getting facebook, I only had to worry about responding to phone calls and emails. Quite honestly, I was never the best at responding to these either. But now that I have come to use facebook, I have noticed that my friends have only become more irritated with me by my lack of response and the amount of time it takes to respond.
So the question that I pose is have these communication technologies such as facebook really helped us keep in touch with people? I know I personally get messages and posts weekly that I never respond to, so what is the point?

Social networking websites have always seemed sort of odd to me. Instead of meeting and socializing with people in real life, people are going online to meet others.

I never got into the whole Facebook thing. To me it was just another thing to deal with. I've found that I like to use sites where the other people and I have things in common. I'm something of a photographer and I like to log onto a photography forum. I usually go there to show off a good pic or to get advice from the others.

I also frequent a forum called Jeepforum.com. I own a Jeep and visit that site to get advice on how to repair my Jeep and I also contribute advice as well. I jokingly call the forum my Jeep owners support group.

Other than those sites, I don't really feel a need to make online friends. I may change my mind if I am able to network online and find a good job!

I did meet my wife on a dating website. That was an interesting experience. I met people that used the dating sites as a way to meet new chat buddies. That was all that some people were using the site for. Kind of strange.

I got tired of meeting people that only wanted to gather chat buddies, so I added a statement to my profile that said,

"I'm not looking for chat buddies, I live in the real world and want to meet someone that feels the same way."

My wife had shared my opinion on this matter and decided to contact me. The rest is history!

It seems like any time I meet someone these days, in between exchanges of phones or e mail the one thing that is always consistent is asking for my “facebook” or “myspace” account. Everyone I know uses both or at least one of those services. Sometimes it feels like I am out of the loop with certain things because I don’t use either of the two. I find it kind of interesting how people will brag how many “friends” they have on facebook or myspace. My friend has over 500 “friends”, but seriously who has 500 friends? I have a hard time trying to make time with few best buds, but 500 is over the top. Does anyone really have 500 friends? I will never have a facebook account for a few reasons. One, I’m not one to maintain my account and check it everyday. Two, I would not want to pass judgment on me based on what my profile looks like or in any way break down my personality. I don’t think people can have a profile without personalizing it and that can give off certain expressions. I guess I am more conscious about these things because I tend to be a private person. I also think that it is much to easy for someone that is computer savvy to get just about everything they need from facebook and myspace. Things like, habits, place they hang out, friends, can be easily determined from the profiles. U of M kind of has a social network too with onestop or “onestalk” people search. People can find anyone’s phone number or address with a few clicks. I’d want those that know me to know things about me not just some random person surfing the web or perhaps someone who does not like me and wants to do something evil. These things are not my thing.

I tend to use my Facebook page not so much as a tool to tell my story to the world, but to keep up on what my friends are doing. Sure, simply calling someone would be much more simple, but being able to see pictures of what they did over the weekend or to read in the person's own words how they feel or what they are up to paints a more accurate picture in my mind of what they've been up to. I haven't really grasped Facebook like many of my friends have because I do not want to commit the time to it. Additionally, I don't mess with Myspace unless I'm visiting the page of a band that I like.

Overall I have a very indifferent opinion of these social networking sites. I can see how they can bring friends closer together, but I also see how they can lead to the exploitation of their members either by commercials, or by other members. If I had to take them of leave them though, I think I would have to leave them. I get along fine without them.

I am not one to jump into sharing photos or information online but I got sucked into the conformity of the social network know as facebook. Since there was so much information like times and dates of events—I was missing out by not being a part. I have my security settings set on high and only people I allow, are able to view my profile page. If there are not “friends” of mine, they can only see what school I attend, my name, and a small picture that I have. I made sure I understood the security settings before I conformed because I am particular about sharing personal information.

I feel social networks are a good way to stay connected and as being a graduating senior, I am excited about staying connected with my friends that I will be thousands of miles away from. I can still feel a part of something that I will be so far away from.

Facebook is awesome. The problem with facebook is that people spend way too much time on it. At the same time facebook can serve as a place to meet individuals on a slightly less formal way. In other words, you can connect with people that you barely know solely through facebook and not out in the real life. Facebook can be a place to put up a glamorous image of the self. The profile can be a very decieving image of the individual...something that could be a wrong image of the person. It is a way to make yourself look happy, and sad without meeting anyone that views your profile. In other words, you can make people think something totally different than what you really are. At the same time, facebook has generated a new way of socializing throughout campuses in the country. So many parties and events would go unnoticed if it weren't for the easy access to facebook and what is happening on campus. Just like all the other topics that we have covered, facebook has some positive and some negative aspects. I believe that positive factors of facebook out weigh the negative side. That is why facebook has become so popular within the past few years.

I think Facebook is a great way of keeping in touch with friends that you may not see very often any more. I never spend more than 10-15 minutes on a site like that, and I could easily go without checking in for months, but I've seen first hand how effective it can be for organizing events, sharing photos or showing support for a group or cause. I also tend to keep the personal info to a minimum on sites like these, and am always amazed to see so many people with their whole life detailed online.

Pretending, for a moment, that they Boyd research paper didn’t detail everything of which I was, on some level or another, already previously aware, I disagree with her assumption that virtual interaction has somehow become irrevocably linked with customary human communication. In general, communicating on the internet is an exercise in volatility and anonymity. In my opinion, the amount of critical analysis to which such “come one, come all” sites as MySpace are subjected don’t reflect accurately the nature of communication on the internet. As is the case whenever someone chooses to divulge their actual identity in a volatile environment, they are doing so based on the assumption that the melting pot nature of sites like MySpace preclude any consequence in the real world. If, having revealed your identity, you post or otherwise reveal details of some action that would draw consequences in the real world, your dependence on this melting pot presumption has been exposed. After all, it is virtually unimaginable that someone who might be interested in inflicting such consequences would single you out of 20,000,000 people.

What I find especially strange, regarding websites like MySpace which encourage identity divulgence and “specialty” sites which are much, much more limited in scope but nevertheless offer a place where people who share certain common interests can communicate, is that the latter almost invariably remains an anonymous environment. People choose to use aliases and only give out as much information as they are comfortable giving to complete strangers. Such websites typically offer a more specific focus and cultivate better dialogue about a given subject. People can present themselves however they choose to do so, but in the act of presenting, they have thus admitted that they have at least one common interest with everyone else who has posted on that particular website. Having one common interest with a few hundred people is more than what most peoples’ friends lists on MySpace possess. If a component of friendship is sharing common interests, than these anonymous individuals already have a better argument than MySpacers who, despite using their real names, form almost exclusively superficial, spurious "friendships." Regardless, those who stick with focused sites maintain an informal, anonymous environment, and the scope of these websites combined is undoubtedly greater than that of MySpace or Facebook. Therefore, the nature of internet communication is still based on anonymity. MySpace and Facebook are the exceptions that prove this.