journal 12

Whoops, didn't know we had one of these over break.

Break is really boring because I'm away from my friends, 95% of whom are college friends at this point in my life. I like Facebook a lot more over break because that's when it helps me keep in touch with them the most.

My mom joined facebook though and friend requested me. I was *in* the same room as her when she did it, so I couldn't no accept it. But I was uncomfortable with her having full access to my profile, especially since I knew that being one of her few FB friends meant almost everything I did would come up on her news feed. So I discovered that the privacy features allow you to opt certain people out of being able to view things on your profile. So I made sure my mom couldn't see my status updates, wall posts, notes, photos...pretty much everything. But she can see my info!

journal 12

I think our BAFA project reflects how limited groups are on facebook. Peer-to-peer communication has been revolutionized by social networking, but I think groups are not as developed/represented as individuals are.

I think forum boards, voting systems, polls, and FB group messages could be implemented much better in the future, and developing the group only makes the issue more evident.

I've found that a lot of the maintenance/security issues will be up to the admin/RAs, as facebook doesn't offer many options for group maintenance other than blocking those who aren't invited.

I'd like direct postings in individual forums, tagging of events, subscriptions to pages, etc. that just aren't offered.

It seems like running a group is a whole different experience than just managing yourself on facebook....

Journal 12

So after weeks of reporting very minimal Facebook usage at school, over my break I learned just how critical it could really be to my social life. Not to moan and whine about my military school again, but after three years of going to school in another state and losing just about all of my friends from my public high school, I once again realized how even in the social isolation of my home, being miles, states and even countries away from my closest of friends, I was still not alone. Throughout last week, I got into the habit of signing on to Facebook multiple times a day, frantically checking for whoever was online, just to see if I cold hold a friendly conversation with someone other then a aggravated family member of mine. Of course, I do like spending time with my family. Yet in that aspect, I mean doing things with my family, not laying around like a lazy bum, playing video games all day. The problem was that is just too much distance between my good friends to actually hang out with then, for the displacement grows from just a few doors away to entire counties.
So although at I school I attempt to keep my distant from Facebook to prevent the complete social dependence of it, at home I am just utterly helpless. Even though I started texting alot more (on my $15 Walmart phone, a literal thumbsore), even my phone became useless on the later days of Thanksgiving Break, when everyone spent more of their time at home with their family, but on their computer, with Facebook open.

journal #12 November 30th

Since I was home this week I found myself not really checking my Facebook. Yeah I was busy, and I was spending time with friends, but I didn’t really even have the urge to go on. I even neglected my Farmville farm! Fields went unplowed, crops died in the field, it was a terrible scene to behold. Also the few times I did go on they were for short periods of time and I only really looked at my college friends updates. It’s weird to think that Facebook seems so much more accessible when my computer is just sitting here on my desk open and ready to go. I guess it’s probably also because I had totally new ways of avoiding homework like watching entire seasons of TV shows while making Christmas presents for friends (much more fun than creeping on Facebook for hours too). I’m sure that by the end of the week Facebook and I will be well on our way to being reacquainted

Journal #12

One funny thing I've seen floating around Facebook lately is this status: "[I] will be completely honest for 24 hours... you can ask me 1 question (only in my inbox). any question, no matter how crazy or sinister it is. there is no ulterior motive, you have my full honesty! but I DARE you to put this text on your status and see what questions you get." Personally, I can't imagine ever asking somebody a serious question in response to this status; I would want to be anonymous if I were going to ask anything very personal or strange. Also, I wonder what kind of person would really be completely honest in answering any question, no matter whom it's from? I don't like the mass copied statuses in the first place, but this one in particular makes me cringe. One that's more acceptable, and often copied in notes and pictures, is asking all your friends to write down memories of you, or some such thing. It's also narcissistic to some extent, but at least it's something everyone can read, and hopefully it's more light-hearted!

For some reason, it seems that my friends have been uploading a lot of excellent photos of themselves and their family over this past week. It's been really fun to get a look at their pictures. Now that I think about it, I can barely imagine what it was like before the days when I could see almost every digital photo that everyone I knew in school ever took. Nowadays, it's taken for granted that when our friends go out, or we go out with them, people are going to take photos that you (and hundreds of other people) will be able to freely browse through in the future.

Journal #12

Last night I met a girl at Espresso that was very nice but was the kind of person that divulged way too much information way too quickly. She asked to be my friend on facebook and I agreed. This was about twenty hours ago. I accepted today and within the first two hours of being her friend on Facebook she had already commented on my status and tried to talk to me on facebook chat. Much like in real life, I feel like there is a certain social protocol that it is considered normal to abide by. That revelation is fascinating to me! If you don't really know someone very well but you are their friend on Facebook then I feel like they should start off slow, maybe a comment on your status here or there, possibly a photo comment, that then could work its way up to a wall post and then facebook chat. Am I just totally strange in thinking this or do others think this too? Being that it is a social networking site I guess it makes sense that there would be social protocol. However, when push comes to shove, I'll probably block her on Facebook chat. Too weird of a first Facebook impression.

Journal #12

Lately I have been hanging out with Matt Cackley on Facebook. I haven't been commenting on other people or any of that; I have been trying to see how much I can find out about a person from just access to their profile. I realized that some people have it set so that I can only see a limited profile, but others have it all hanging out. I can see everything. This is what my final project is on. It is really interesting to see all these things about people that I went to middle school with, and then never saw again; their lives suck! But other than that I feel like a total creeper whenever I am Matt because the people that are his friends, save for a few, have no idea who he is. He could be a online predator, but because he is the same age, went to a school they have heard of, and has mutual friends they assume nothing could go wrong. This is a security and privacy issue that I will definitely be writing more about in my paper. But, having this new set of eyes to see through has let be unbiased when looking at people profiles and I can gather a more accurate portrait of them than if I was to actually get to know them for a little while. YOU CAN'T HIDE ANYTHING FROM THE CACK.