The Facebook

Finally, my 8 years of (varying degrees of) Facebook usage is coming into functional play.  With a modern –day Internet Studies type of degree such as the one Im working towards, it was only a matter of time until we started analyzing Social Media sites like Facebook.  Barry Wellman, an American-Canadian sociologist, has said that “The World is composed of Networks, not groups.”  We discussed this quote in class bringing up the hard to answer question of “what is the difference?”  Despite the number of answers that we the student body as well as the teacher proposed, it was difficult to really define or pinpoint.  Relating specifically to Facebook, there are more simple differentiations.  I can belong to a group of people that are interested in the same thing, or invited to the same activity.  My network is also something I specifically choose, yet it is more vague because I can be connected to any other person who has ever gone to Stern College or anyone else who has ever lived in Teaneck, NJ (or at least stated so on Facebook) and that automatically makes us part of the same network.

But why is that important?  And how does that play out in real life?  We saw the visualization of an interesting study done on the network of smokers.  Through a series of Nodes and connective lines representing people (smokers and not smokers in different colors) and their connections/relationships respectively, we were able to see how over time people who smoked stuck together and stayed in clusters while the decline in smoking also stayed in clusters.  We were visually able to see how people quit smoking together, or continued to smoke together, and doing one or the other was often reliant on the individuals “network.”  That’s just one example but it seems to be a good general representation of how we flock to people who are the same or away from people who are different.  You don’t always need to be in a defined group but surrounding yourself with like-minded/actioned people tends to define our networks. 

One of my teachers mentioned that visibility of “network” is important specifically when it comes to blogging.  He said that blogs only continue to exist when there is readership – otherwise they die out.  I immediately wanted to protest and stick up for the main reason I’m writing this very posting –that I’m doing it for myself  - but I then realized that it’s true… why am I writing in a public forum and not just my bedside journal?  I guess I want people to read this.  And through Blogspot I can check how many people read it (don’t worry – I can’t see who) and from where.  It also shows me through what links people tune in be it from Facebook or Gmail or other.  That gives me another look into my own network because I post a link on my Facebook page but also on my Gmail status.  Only those that I’m friends with on Facebook would see the more ‘in-your-face’ Facebook link whereas anyone I’ve ever sent an email to that also has Gmail (I think that’s the way it works) can find themselves clicking on the link through my Gmail.  Every once in a while a google search will bring a random person my way through the direct content of what I write.

Which brings me to 2 things I wanted to share that will serve as the framework for further anayization of my new University experiences.

In our studies of the Internet and Popular culture, we were shown a new video that has gone viral in exactly the last week.  It is the Google Search Reunion – please watch:

 (make sure to turn on the captions from the bottom right-hand side of the video window).  In discussing just what it is that characterizes a video that is set up for virality, we talked about emotions.  As soon as it was done the other students very sarcastically started saying “Oh very nice, how emotional…” yet I surreptitiously had to wipe away the tears that had dripped down from my eyes (yes, I teared up again when watching it again just now).  It’s amazing how there is such a discrepancy regarding the sensitivity of an Israeli and American student (even taking into consideration that I may be graded on the more emotional side of the spectrum).  I think that could have to do with the type of real life that students in Israel and students in America have to deal with (Army, anyone?).  But the wetness on my cheek was a nice little reminder of another reason that I was a little different from my classmates.  (Did it make you cry, too?)

Another video we watched from a different class was yet another delineation of what kind of role Internet, and specifically Facebook, plays in our lives.  (Am I just the biggest loser that my “cool, new” social media video and info come from School!?!?)  Granted this was shown after we got a privately guided tour of our Professor’s personal Facebook page including profile and photos and all!  Have a look: 

It’s an awesome video and interesting portrayal (please pardon the language), but gets me thinking the question that I already know the answer to: Do I/we spend too much time on Facebook?  It certainly has its benefits, and I don’t think I’m daring enough to deactivate my account, but how often do I find myself in the depths of Facebook, never having intended to get there, about 2.5 hours after I had planned on going to sleep?

Just some random comments on things I’ve noticed at school:

Israeli students dress up.  I sometimes feel like I want to wear pajamas to school, just like I used to see students do in the movies or on other campuses I had visited (at Stern, people didn’t really wear Pjs to class – mainly because our dress code included skirts)  - but that’s not really an option here.  I often see girls wearing heels just because… despite the fact that I normally try and at the very least put myself together, I will never wear heels to school.  I find myself slipping around on the stones in my Sperrys! Imagine what a pair of heels would do!

Also, there has been a noticeable lack of Movember mustaches, at least based on what I’ve seen.  Last year I saw quite a few more in the non-University setting and I would have thought it would be exponentially more on a Campus setting.  Maybe because last year I was around a more Anglo community?  Go figure…

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