TC 375: Social Networking and e.e. cummings

Before I address the issues of social networking sites, the Facebook, privacy, and the other matters which were brought up in Judith Donath and danah boyd's paper, "Public Displays of Communication," I want to point out one strange thing that I noticed immediately when I read the article. One of the authors, boyd (perhaps one day dr. boyd?), has put her name in all-lowercase letters (in other words, she has purposely not capitalized her first or last name).

Danah, who do you think you are, e.e. cummings? Your use of lowercase lettering may be "cute" in regards to the fact that your research is on the medium where such is common and even tolerated (along with "ROFL," "LMAO," and "BRB"), but when you are a PhD student at the University of California, Berkely, doesn't it look a lot better to align yourself (to the extent that the way you visually represent your name is concerned) with other academics, rather than with a portion of the people whose behaviors you study? A minor grievance, but I couldn't avoid pointing it out, and I'm sure that boyd didn't write her name like this without full awareness of the attention it would bring to her.

Now, on to the topic at hand. Donath and boyd discuss social networking sites, but the Facebook is not included in the discussion. The article's date of publication was about eight months after the launch of the Facebook, meaning it was likely excluded due to its newness (if the writers were even aware of it when they wrote this) and its small size (as a result of being new). According to my profile on the Facebook (viewable only to Facebook members who are friends with me or who attend MSU), I joined on November 28, 2004.

I remember that at that time, I had known about the Facebook for quite some time, but had avoided joining simply because I did not see any point in it. I had already been convinced by friends to join Myspace and Friendster, and did not see any point in joining a third. Additionally, I did not feel like I had gained anything from my membership in those other networks, aside from the initial curious exploring of the sites. In fact, I felt that they were often more of a chore, sending me emails saying that I needed to log in to servers that were often slow to "approve" friends, sometimes people who I did not know, and who made no attempt to explain why they were claiming a friendship between us. Regardless, I eventually joined the Facebook, and have used it for a variety of things since. It should also be noted that for the most part I avoid other social networking sites.

I have used the Facebook to find people (friends that you have lost touch with, weak ties who I wish to know better, members of groups for class projects, etc.), communicate with people (friends at other schools, friends at MSU, and even some professional acquaintances), and make myself "findable" by other people. The communication tools of the Facebook (announcements, messages, etc.) have been used by my friends and I to alert one another of our parties, events, and important milestones. As a result, my social network has been affected by the Facebook by facilitating communication between myself and my friends, between myself and people I do not yet know very well, and between friends of mine and other friends of mine. It is not uncommon to be asked by a new friend or peer, "I see that you know So-and-so, I have known him since first grade, how do you know him?" In this way, the social networking sites speed up the process of establishing or positioning oneself and others in a "social web."

As far as professors and other faculty are concerned, I have seen very few on the Facebook. While the site has special designations for faculty, graduate students, undergraduate students, and alumni, the vast majority of Facebook users at MSU fall into the latter category (both by actual count and by percentage). Rather appropriately, the only professor of mine who is on the Facebook is Dr. Nicole Ellison, instructor of the course for which I am writing this, which focuses on computer meddiated communication. Because she is the only professor I know who is on the Facebook, it is very difficult for me to guess what it might be like if all MSU professors joined. The article noted a situation like this with Friendster, but did not go into extensive discussion on that particular matter. According to her profile, Dr. Ellison is interseted in underwater hockey. I can safely say that I do not think I would have found that out had it not been for the Facebook. Of course, discussions of what situations might develop if a majority of university professors signed up on the Facebook are far more concerned with how this affects relationships between students and faculty. I can take some guesses at what might happen, and what sort of difficult situations could potentially arise, but I think I would be more interested in first hearing what Dr. Ellison's experiences have been using the Facebook.

The authors discuss the issue of privacy in relation to social networking sites. Some of the particular areas of online privacy on such sites that they discuss include identity theft (the more information you provide, the easier it is for someone to pretend to be you with this information), selective exposure to information (making information visible only to select groups or levels of contacts), and a longer discussion of a story of an individual who uses publicly accessible data to construct an entire identity that is wholly untrue. The authors sound weary of some of the potential developments and concerns about privacy and social networking sites. While I agree that there are some serious ways in which people could be victimized or harmed by exposing too much valuable information to too many people, I think that it is up to the rational individual to be aware of what information they are putting out and who is able to see it. These are "opt-in" services, not mandatory directories, and anyone who chooses to use one should be aware of precisely what they are doing and the risks that may be associated with their sharing of information.