Facebook-alization
Prior to university education, the polytechnic route meant that anything related to social sciences were often distanced from me. I was perhaps a more technical person, and the decision to drop Computer Engineering at NTU for FASS NUS three years back was perhaps against the logic of a more 'technical' me. But just somehow or rather, I simply preferred NUS more. Ok but the main point is, my journey in a social sciences faculty has shaped my mind to take a more critical and analytical approach to many things in life, and these 'observations and explanations of life' have more than often intrigued me. Which brings me to one of the wonders of our lives today, the new media phenomenon of Facebook.
The reason for writing this entry can be traced back to a number of intriguing conversations I have had with my friends, so I thought it could be interesting to pen this down, and review these thoughts again in a few months or a years time to see what's changed.
It all started out with Friendster at the start of the century. I remembered how I signed up for a Friendster account in a computer lab lesson in my poly days, and thought nothing much of it at first. That was until I was amazed by how Friendster could link many of my friends and myself through the 'six degrees of separation' concept, and how I could find back many of my primary and secondary school friends. Facebook, which was then more of a hit in America and Canada, soon gained prominence in Singapore. Again I simply signed up because my cousin in Canada was using it, and then a few months later, Facebook soon replaced Friendster, and has become the next big thing, Facebook-alization! Ok I personally coined this term up, borrowing the idea from how Google-lization describes Google's domination of our everyday lives, and how McDonald-ization implies the prominence of Western influences on non-Western countries.
Not too long ago, when my friends and I talk about friends whom we've never met for a while, I seem to be able to know 'some things' about them, despite having not met them for months and years. For example, I have a rough idea about how they look like now, whether they are studying, have graduated, are working, are overseas, or even who they hang out with. And when asked how I know so much, my answer is simply 'Facebook'! Well, yes I do visit Facebook at least two to three times everyday whenever I get online, but I'm sure this is considered to be a pretty average frequency in today's Internet age. The point is that just from this few visits, I get so much information through Facebook's 'homepage' (the first page after you login). So don't call me a Facebook stalker or addict, because Facebook's advanced concept is the real culprit here. You see it provides information about all the latest updates, from the latest pictures, videos, wall posts and even comments. And to add, it does not just include comments from my own network of friends, but even from my friends' friends. To date, I have found out about many new relationships (and lost ones), many new friends, and many other exciting events and happenings which I would never have known of if not for the pictures and comments on Facebook. Similarly while on SEP, I got quite some updates about happenings back in NUS from Facebook alone. Yes I get a more clearer and descriptive picture from my friends' blogs, but the ratio of blogs to Facebook accounts is like ... a few : almost everyone.
I guess Facebook's edge over Friendster would definitely be it's improved photo and video functions, and the ability to tag the photos and videos (although I personally think the cooler name of Facebook over Friendster did play a minor part too). Facebook may not have the 'six degrees of separation' clearly drawn out like what Friendster did, but the tagging of photos basically touched on the same concept, and improved the levels of networking. Truth is many of us are drawn to photos (as compared to words) when the 'homepage' displays these updates, and I have actually found many old school friends simply because they have been tagged in photos of friends in my current network. I have also learnt of a few marriages, and of how some of my friends are still keeping in touch with each other (when I'm not). To think of it, it has become such an integral part of our lives so much so that we tend to overlook how much less 'updates' we will get of the people around us had Facebook not existed.
One other prime example of the power of tagging photos would be how my brother's primary school friend had scanned an old class photo into this Facebook account, and then tagged all his old friends in it. So in this case my brother was actually alerted by being tagged in the photo, and from that very same photo he could actually contact many of his old friends. If you really think about it, if every single one of us took an old class photo, scanned it in and did the appropriate taggings, how many lost relationships would actually be bridged! Amazing.
They say you can tell a person from the way a person works, a way a person plays sports, or even from a way a person plays a game. I personally feel that to a certain extent it's true. I've had friends who are more serious and uptight, and show that by being competitive (sometimes too over-competitive) when playing sports, and I've had friends who choose to take very laid back approaches in life, and have shown that when doing work. In Facebook-alization terms, I think I can now also tell a person from his Facebook account. Not entirely from the pictures he or she uploads, or the way he or she updates his personal information, but simply from the different wall posts, picture tags and comments in his or her Facebook account. Ok maybe I can't tell how competitive or how laid back one is, but I can definitely know other stuff like his or her way of life and recent happenings.
The question is of course why is Facebook such a hit. Similarly to how the old boring text-only APRANET was never expected to become the must-have Internet of today, no one had really expected Friendster and Facebook's profiling pages (similar to job-search databases and match-making services) to be such a hit. I guess I would credit this to the same reason why MMORPGs are such hit, and that is because of personal accounts. Alike MMORPGS, well-updated Facebook accounts (or good leveled up characters in MMORPGS) in some way reflects a certain kind of status you hold in society. Therefore, many people log in daily to Facebook not just for updates, but also to ensure that their own accounts or profiles are well-kempt and in proper condition. For example, some people are concerned with whether or not they look decent in photos they have been tagged in, or some people want to chalk up as many friends as possible. I even have friends who key in their full personal information which include their residential address and contact numbers, testament to my point about having a 'proper' profile. There's just this sense of consciousness that 'people are watching'.
This then would of course lead to the cons of Facebook, with personal information too openly available to anybody and everybody. In fact, it's been known that future employers and even parents are using Facebook to check up on future employees and their children. Similarly, everyday social life is affected. It's one thing to know everyon'e birthday to extend your well wishes, but it's another that you can no longer give or receive birthday surprises because you now know that everyone knows your birthday. Also, has it now become an added social responsibility to extend birthday wishes, and will those who don't be differently regarded? How many times have statuses also been casually changed, only to result in a bombardment of questions and doubtful glares eventhough you have tried hard to explain that it was just a casual status change which really meant nothing. Similarly, you give an excuse for missing an outing with a group of friends, only for them to realise you had been out with another group through photos which you have been tagged in. So on and so on .... But the thing is, despite all of us being aware of the many cons, we still do our daily updates and housekeeping of Facebook.
Well of course, much of what I have commented here are based on my own thoughts and observations through the way I use Facebook and how I think others use it. I may be over-generalising, and one can agree or disagree, but I guess this new phenomenon can be so widely argued from so many different perspectives that it properly deserves more detailed analysis from social scientist around the world (I think there already are). Friendster, although still existent, has died down much earlier than I expected simply because Facebook came about. I personally think that Facebook is here to stay for a much longer run, although no one can really predict if a next big thing would come in to replace Facebook's dominance. With the advancements of technology today, who can really argue that something like that won't happen soon?
The reason for writing this entry can be traced back to a number of intriguing conversations I have had with my friends, so I thought it could be interesting to pen this down, and review these thoughts again in a few months or a years time to see what's changed.
It all started out with Friendster at the start of the century. I remembered how I signed up for a Friendster account in a computer lab lesson in my poly days, and thought nothing much of it at first. That was until I was amazed by how Friendster could link many of my friends and myself through the 'six degrees of separation' concept, and how I could find back many of my primary and secondary school friends. Facebook, which was then more of a hit in America and Canada, soon gained prominence in Singapore. Again I simply signed up because my cousin in Canada was using it, and then a few months later, Facebook soon replaced Friendster, and has become the next big thing, Facebook-alization! Ok I personally coined this term up, borrowing the idea from how Google-lization describes Google's domination of our everyday lives, and how McDonald-ization implies the prominence of Western influences on non-Western countries.
Not too long ago, when my friends and I talk about friends whom we've never met for a while, I seem to be able to know 'some things' about them, despite having not met them for months and years. For example, I have a rough idea about how they look like now, whether they are studying, have graduated, are working, are overseas, or even who they hang out with. And when asked how I know so much, my answer is simply 'Facebook'! Well, yes I do visit Facebook at least two to three times everyday whenever I get online, but I'm sure this is considered to be a pretty average frequency in today's Internet age. The point is that just from this few visits, I get so much information through Facebook's 'homepage' (the first page after you login). So don't call me a Facebook stalker or addict, because Facebook's advanced concept is the real culprit here. You see it provides information about all the latest updates, from the latest pictures, videos, wall posts and even comments. And to add, it does not just include comments from my own network of friends, but even from my friends' friends. To date, I have found out about many new relationships (and lost ones), many new friends, and many other exciting events and happenings which I would never have known of if not for the pictures and comments on Facebook. Similarly while on SEP, I got quite some updates about happenings back in NUS from Facebook alone. Yes I get a more clearer and descriptive picture from my friends' blogs, but the ratio of blogs to Facebook accounts is like ... a few : almost everyone.
I guess Facebook's edge over Friendster would definitely be it's improved photo and video functions, and the ability to tag the photos and videos (although I personally think the cooler name of Facebook over Friendster did play a minor part too). Facebook may not have the 'six degrees of separation' clearly drawn out like what Friendster did, but the tagging of photos basically touched on the same concept, and improved the levels of networking. Truth is many of us are drawn to photos (as compared to words) when the 'homepage' displays these updates, and I have actually found many old school friends simply because they have been tagged in photos of friends in my current network. I have also learnt of a few marriages, and of how some of my friends are still keeping in touch with each other (when I'm not). To think of it, it has become such an integral part of our lives so much so that we tend to overlook how much less 'updates' we will get of the people around us had Facebook not existed.
One other prime example of the power of tagging photos would be how my brother's primary school friend had scanned an old class photo into this Facebook account, and then tagged all his old friends in it. So in this case my brother was actually alerted by being tagged in the photo, and from that very same photo he could actually contact many of his old friends. If you really think about it, if every single one of us took an old class photo, scanned it in and did the appropriate taggings, how many lost relationships would actually be bridged! Amazing.
They say you can tell a person from the way a person works, a way a person plays sports, or even from a way a person plays a game. I personally feel that to a certain extent it's true. I've had friends who are more serious and uptight, and show that by being competitive (sometimes too over-competitive) when playing sports, and I've had friends who choose to take very laid back approaches in life, and have shown that when doing work. In Facebook-alization terms, I think I can now also tell a person from his Facebook account. Not entirely from the pictures he or she uploads, or the way he or she updates his personal information, but simply from the different wall posts, picture tags and comments in his or her Facebook account. Ok maybe I can't tell how competitive or how laid back one is, but I can definitely know other stuff like his or her way of life and recent happenings.
The question is of course why is Facebook such a hit. Similarly to how the old boring text-only APRANET was never expected to become the must-have Internet of today, no one had really expected Friendster and Facebook's profiling pages (similar to job-search databases and match-making services) to be such a hit. I guess I would credit this to the same reason why MMORPGs are such hit, and that is because of personal accounts. Alike MMORPGS, well-updated Facebook accounts (or good leveled up characters in MMORPGS) in some way reflects a certain kind of status you hold in society. Therefore, many people log in daily to Facebook not just for updates, but also to ensure that their own accounts or profiles are well-kempt and in proper condition. For example, some people are concerned with whether or not they look decent in photos they have been tagged in, or some people want to chalk up as many friends as possible. I even have friends who key in their full personal information which include their residential address and contact numbers, testament to my point about having a 'proper' profile. There's just this sense of consciousness that 'people are watching'.
This then would of course lead to the cons of Facebook, with personal information too openly available to anybody and everybody. In fact, it's been known that future employers and even parents are using Facebook to check up on future employees and their children. Similarly, everyday social life is affected. It's one thing to know everyon'e birthday to extend your well wishes, but it's another that you can no longer give or receive birthday surprises because you now know that everyone knows your birthday. Also, has it now become an added social responsibility to extend birthday wishes, and will those who don't be differently regarded? How many times have statuses also been casually changed, only to result in a bombardment of questions and doubtful glares eventhough you have tried hard to explain that it was just a casual status change which really meant nothing. Similarly, you give an excuse for missing an outing with a group of friends, only for them to realise you had been out with another group through photos which you have been tagged in. So on and so on .... But the thing is, despite all of us being aware of the many cons, we still do our daily updates and housekeeping of Facebook.
Well of course, much of what I have commented here are based on my own thoughts and observations through the way I use Facebook and how I think others use it. I may be over-generalising, and one can agree or disagree, but I guess this new phenomenon can be so widely argued from so many different perspectives that it properly deserves more detailed analysis from social scientist around the world (I think there already are). Friendster, although still existent, has died down much earlier than I expected simply because Facebook came about. I personally think that Facebook is here to stay for a much longer run, although no one can really predict if a next big thing would come in to replace Facebook's dominance. With the advancements of technology today, who can really argue that something like that won't happen soon?
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