Facebook Observations
Facebook:
At the age of 29, I created a Facebook account for myself about 3 months ago. One observation I have about Facebook is my reason I had for not creating one earlier. In the world of Secondary education, it seemed so taboo to be tied into this media frenzy. Although, to be fair, that is mostly the association I have with My Space---hence my Facebook account. I had been invited by friends to join, and actually I joined by “accident.� Curiosity got the best of me and I went to check out my friend Anna’s page that lives in Montana. I did not know enough about this media tool to know I needed a page to see hers. So by default, without even knowing it, I had created a page. My reasons for not creating a page surrounded my experiences in school with discussions of cyber bullying, at-risk girls being involved with less than tasteful situations, and the parent-school conversations that surrounded these topics.
What I would like to incorporate in my observations of Facebook in my past few months of participation are not only my online observations, but my face-to-face conversations that have occurred since I have become more aware of this media tool. I feel that both represent the different groups and purposes that this tool serves. For I have most definitely found that it goes way beyond my teacher-paranoid narrow scope that I came into it with.
Student-Student:
Quote observed:
( student 1) “ I have 72 friends on my Facebook account. How many do you have?�
( student 2) “ I only have 15,( funny look by other student) but I only let my friends look at my page.�
(student 1) “ Oh really?! I accept anyone that asks to be my friend, just so I can have as many friends on my page as possible---even if I don’t know who they are!�
(Student 2) “ ugh, I don’t want strangers looking at my page! Creepy!�
Two things came to mind when I pictured the online interactions these students were having with their Facbook pages. One, student 1 was just throwing random pieces of information on her page for reaction while student 2 was actually communicating and sharing things with her friends in a different form. Two, I couldn’t help, as a teacher, to notice the different level of parental involvement with these two students. Student 2, as I would assume, clearly had someone setting guidelines and teaching her about her online involvement.
This also heightened my awareness of how we need to bring media literacy into the classroom to raise the bar and tap into these tech-savvy students and their interests.
Adults---that I don’t communicate with on Facebook:
My husband and I had our friends over. They are married. She is a lawyer. He has worked in “business,� currently at Target. I was sharing with them that I recently got a Facebook page.
(Katie): “ Really? I feel like I am too old to have a Facebook page. I think of my younger sister, and how she talks about it and I’m just not into that.�
(Me): “ I thought the same thing, but you’d be surprised how many people use it. Actually, I have reconnected with a lot of people I haven’t talked in a while that I could never find their contact information.�
(Hallie): “ Yeah, I have one.�
( Katie—his wife): “ Seriously? You do?�
(Hallie): “Yeah, a lot of people through work actually use it quite a bit---as a networking type of tool.�
I really thought it was interesting to have that piece put in their about the business side of things. I later had my friend Megan working in Chicago tell me that she was “ actually encouraged to be on Facebook through work.� This is clearly going to be a part of our future.
My Direct Observations on Facebook:
To me:
“ Hey good to see you out running. How’s life…?�
---We haven’t see each other in years. Swam together in college, crossed paths on the Lake--- we never talked through Facebook until we actually saw each other. Interesting how for some people I have connected with it actually took that face-to-face to encourage communication even online.
“Finished the Kite Runner and loved it!�—posted as message
Profile Pictures:
Solo at the beach
Recently engaged with finance
Speaking to a crowd at a podium
Hiking on trail in Mexico
Picture with spouse and baby
Out at a bar with friends
….I have found profile pictures the most interesting. What people choose and how they want people to portray themselves is so true to their personalities and their main interests---this is how they want people to perceive them as well. Also, it is interesting how they change depending on what is going on with their lives. It is interesting to see which people chose pictures to represent their leisure time, interests, or career accomplishments.
** The other part I noticed was, as adults, how many people didn’t participate in many of the gadgets of Facebook. I can compare it to the judgements surrounding mass forwards through email. It seems that there is this unspoken rule that participating in these “parts� ( Pokey the virtual dog, LOTS of quizzes—a few are OK, games, etc) seem to portray that all you have time for is Facebook---and don’t waste my time by making me sift through these dumb notifications you’re sending.