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.

Journal #12 November 23

Lately, I have been paying attention to the status updates since my final project relates to that. A thing that amused me was how a lot of statuses related to being home for break. A lot of them complained about how bored they are and how much they missed U of I. I was happy to see that my status update: "I already miss U of I," got many comments and likes. It is clear that a lot of people dislike being home and wish that they were at U of I celebrating Thanksgiving. When I read the statuses of my friends from high school, I noticed how excited they were to be home. Some people were so ready to leave their University. It shocked me to see those statuses especially since no one likes to be back in the suburbs.

Since I am back in the suburbs, I have been on facebook a lot to see what my friends from college are up to. I have also had a lot of time to respond to my wall posts and comment on pictures because there is nothing better to do at home but go on facebook. It is quite sad, but I am glad that I have facebook to keep me occupied.

Journal # 12

I have been on Facbook for the past few hours, but I haven't been on in a few days. Life is really sad right now and it troubles me to think about the future ahead. I got on FB to just check and see how my friends were doing and voice my feelings, I later came to discover that everyone is there for me in the best possible way. I have a strong liking for facebook becasue it is like a family that is there to comfort you in times when life my seem at it's worst. I say this because I got the opprotunity today to re-connect witrh alot of family that I haven't seen in years ( a long time i know lol). I also noticed that facebook is like a window and you can either have people looking in or have them sittin there on the other side with you. It is great to see a site being used for positive things rathern than jsut the negative. My rescent activity on facebook has been a huge eye opener and I am sure that things will get better; based primarily on the positive things that I've read.

Journal #11

The articles on sexting are resounding. While I do feel that it is a serious issue, I completely disagree with putting someone on the sex offenders list for such a minor crime. It demeans and lessens the authenticity of that list. Now that I know some of the acts that they'll put people on the list for, I'll think twice before completely mistrusting someone who is on that list. And that is wrong! That list is there for people who molest children and commit true sexual crimes, and while sending a naked picture of your ex-girlfriend to your friends is awful and a crime, it is not in the same league as those who should be put on that list. It appears like the real problem is is that no one has prepared for a time when children have so much freedom with their image and instead of trying to put in place laws that will appropriately address the situation, they're trying to make an example of the first ones so kids don't do it again. Here's a crazy idea, tell kids it's wrong! Incorporate that into the health curriculum of middle school. Because in all honesty, they probably don't know that it's wrong! Education is key in these cases, because if they know that it's wrong and they still do it, they deserve a different kind of punishment than if they did it without realizing the severity of their actions.

Prompt #12: The Article

Hello all.

For your final prompt please find a news story about Facebook or other social networking websites. Report on the blog what this story is all about and how it relates to something we have discussed in class. (Please include a link to the story. If you have taken the story from a hard copy print source, please bring a copy to class.)

We will spend Monday (Nov 30) discussing your news stories, final projects, and wrapping up class.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving break!

Class today, November 16, 2009

Hello all,

Class is canceled today.

Stay warm and dry. Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Everyone's ideas for your final projects look good. Keep pursuing these.

I will be in touch soon.


Best,
K

Journal #11

This week, a friend of mine had an interesting experience when he befriended a local girl on Facebook, chatted with her for several days, and then finally went to meet her in person. According to him, when he actually met the girl, she was strikingly different from her online persona, both in terms of personality and appearance. Of course, this phenomenon isn't limited to Facebook, as anyone you meet online may turn out to be totally different in person--even if you think you already know him or her well from phone conversations and photographs.

My friend's experience reminds me of the summer before this school year, when I started joining Allen Hall groups and befriending people whom I intended to meet once I arrived on campus. Then when I finally got here, I was shocked at how different everyone was! For example, one girl I'd pictured as quiet and serious turned out to be loud and outgoing when I first had lunch with her. Another girl I almost didn't recognize when I saw her in person because I hadn't studied her Facebook photos closely enough to realize she was extremely tall. In the case of my roommate, I remember having made a slight judgment on her personality based on the lack of capital letters on her info section, but when I finally met her in person, I realized that didn't have anything to say about her personality at all.

The discrepancy between what you expect from someone's Facebook profile and how you find that person to be in real life can be due to at least two factors. First, people can actually present themselves online differently than they present themselves in real life, either unknowingly or by a deliberate choice to do so. In addition, your own personal biases can cause you to interpret people's online Facebook profiles in different, often incorrect, ways. For example, I can see why the outgoing personality and the tallness of the two girls mentioned above would surprise me: I probably projected aspects of myself onto them, thus assuming them to be shorter and quieter than they actually were. Projection occurs easily online, I've noticed. In the case of my roommate, I initially misjudged her personality based on my own negative stereotype of people who rarely use capital letters. However, other people without my bias would probably not have made the same judgment that I did.

Anyway, the big lesson I've learned from all these experiences is that you should never rush to judge a person's personality based on a Facebook profile online. Most of the time, I think, people will surprise you in a lot of ways.

Journal #11

More than ever I see how Facebook is applicable to groups, and how this is what makes it really useful. Social interaction isn't dependent on FB but the way that many different people can RSVP and plan events is extremely useful.

With all that's going on with the GEO, it helps to be connected online and gain some perspective. I know a lot more about what is going on than if I hadn't been on facebook.

It also helps with getting together with my FB project group, which is important with the strike going on and all.

It'll be even more useful when the strike gets drawn out, methinks.

On the bright side, I'll have more opportunities to use facebook with all my classes being canceled.

That gives me a thought- what if facebook advances its group settings so that institutions and companies had individual pages?

And each company would let their employees use facebook, yet they could block certain things, but maintain the social aspect. Very dystopian...

Sounds like 1984.

Let's hope it doesn't come to individuals maintaining freedom on facebook. Sounds like the google/China fiasco...

Journal #11 November 16th

I’ve been using Facebook think week to try to keep up to date on the strike. I joined the GEO Facebook fan page, and I really like how they make any updates their status. They pop up in my news feed and they are really easy to identify because of the large amount of text and bold thumbnail picture. So I was thinking that an Allen Hall fan page could be really useful. We could keep up to date with status changes and then all the events could be on the actual fan page. The only thing we’d really need to work out is who get’s access to the page to run it and update it and things of that nature.

I kind of want to join the social interview application, because it seems like fun and is pretty interesting but when I went to add the app it asked for permission to photos and friends information. After our classes and talking about all the 3^rd party information floating around I just couldn’t bring myself to click “allow”, so maybe another day.

In response to the “sexting” topic I think it is a good idea to re-work the laws because technology is changing and kids don’t realize what they are doing can be punished so severely. In addition, what these kid are doing obviously isn’t right so perhaps if “sexting” awareness could be added into middle school health programs children would be more informed and know how to avoid bad situations.

That’s all for now, and in case I don’t see you before break have a lovely thanksgiving!

Journal 11

Wonderful. Another week has gone by and I've barely signed on Facebook. So, as other people have reported, I also find it convenient that GEO keeps updating the status of the strike on their Wall. Just after reading the Massmail that Interim Chancellor Easter sent out, it was pretty nice to have a response by the GEO to instantly read.

Anyways Facebook has continued as normal as ever, or at least for me. But since last week, I've started to keep a record of all the responses I've had to the advertisements that pop up to the right of the Live Feed page. Most of them contain some explicative verbiage, unfit to share, sparking examples of restricted immaturity.

Journal #11 November 16

Recently, I have gained an interest in video posts on facebook. I love watching the video wall posts that people put up on facebook. My two friends posted a video of them dancing to a stereotypical indian song on my facebook. It was hilarious. I also posted videos of myself on the walls of others as well. It is really fun and entertaining to do. It is so much more interesting to see someone's face on a wall than just a simple post. Today, I decided to post a video of me and my friends dancing. It was really great. I also have a tendency to watch videos that people I barely talk to post on facebook. That just brings out the stalker side of me. There is a tendency for a person to feel much more special and loved when a friend posts a video on his or her wall. I hope in the future that I receive many more video wall posts. Video posts are becoming increasingly popular on facebook now. Wall posts are just old fashioned.

That brings me to the point of how facebook has changed so much. Before the only way friends would communicate was through wall posts. Now we have began communicating through many other means on facebook. The comment feature is very important since people would rather comment on wall posts or statuses than write on walls. It is as if the wall post feature has been replaced. I remember when I would get so excited to have reached 200 wall posts. I also remember that people would have competitions over who has more wall posts. Now I rarely receive wall posts. I receive comments on various things. It is really interesting.

Jurnal #11

So, this week on Facebook has been rather uneventful. Although I am diggin' the new spellcheck in all the posting spots. This is great because lots of people tend to do text speak on facebook now and it bothers me. I mean you have a full keyboard, use it! Hopefully that will get people typing better.

On another topic, I have realized that a lot of my friends have chosen facebook as their favorite form of communication. Even over texting! I mean I will be texting people and they will reply to me on facebook. I don't like it. It is only when the matter isn't urgent, but then I sit there by the phone and wait and wait, and eventually I will check my facebook because I'm bored of waiting for them, and theres my answer on my profile. NO GOOD! At least they are speaking regularly then, and not in text speak. I guess this saves them money on texting, but if everyone did this facebook would be even more addictive, everyone in our age pond is addicted to their cell phone, it is their left or right hand! If facebook was to take over, everyone would have to go out and buy those mini netbooks so they could check facebook constantly, or get like an iPhone, but I don't like those.

But I am super excited to go home, and I don't know if I will have time to check my facebook, I mean I am going to have soooooooo many things to do, it will be intense.

Journal # 11

I haven't really been on Facebook lately because I've been going through a lot back at home. But one thing I've noticed about FB is that is truly a utilized network that relays information that people want to be known. I say this because I posted some bad news on facebook and people gave me helpful and inspirational comments and that really helped me. It seems as if FB is like one big family because in times of sorrow and crisis your FB family is there giving you their virtual shoulder to lean and cry on. FB Families are great lol....and I never knew mine was so responsive (when they need to be).

Follow up from today's discussion: sexting and child porn

Hello,

Here are two links to articles (and a video) from CNN.

1. http://edition.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/04/07/sexting.busts/index.html

• click the video tab in this one to watch a short video

2. http://edition.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/04/08/galanos.sexting/index.html

Feel free to write comments about your thoughts!

Prompt #11: Final Project

Hello!

Please be in contact here if you would like to work with someone or a group for the final project.

So for this prompt, please respond with the idea you are thinking about so we do not go into the individual meetings blind. This way I can have an idea of what you would like to do. Consider this prompt a proposal for the final project. What would you like to do? How does it relate to class?

You should all read each others ideas, perhaps some of you can work together.

I am going to set up time slots for our meetings on Monday. Let me know if you are working with a group because I will need more time for those.

So here are the times:

4:15pm
4:25pm
4:35pm
4:45pm
4:55pm
5:05pm
5:15pm

Sign up for these in a comment whenever you figure out what works for you. The rest of your "proposal" is due by 1pm on Monday, November 16.

journal 10

So I spent most of this weekend and the end of the week out of town without internet, so I was not on facebook a lot this week. It was pretty restful not clicking over to FB every couple of minutes to check the new inane things. I got on this morning and of course everyone was tagging pictures and making comments on them from my trip. I also discussed the Bears game with a few friends. Jesus, the Bears are bad this year.

Why does everyone want a dislike button? That's what I want to know. Do we need a button to express every possible emotion we can have on facebook? Where's the "I am emotionally ambivalent but unhappy just ignoring the like button" button? I think it's ridiculous.

Journal #10 November 9

Lately, it has been interesting to look at all of the news feed and live feed. I still don't understand why they are under two different categories. Live feed gets updated constantly, it's crazy. Some of the information is interesting, but the live feed reveals so much information. Most of it is irrelevant. It tends to get very boring as well. I still like reading the facebook statuses, but it's interesting how they don't get updated as often as it should. In the end, the live feed and news feed is just another thing to get used to.

I recently joined this interesting group on facebook. It is called overheard at University of Illinois. This group is hilarious. There were some really funny comments posted. One was about fycare. It talked about how it is wrong to say rape out loud because there could be a girl out there who could have experienced it. Someone apparently made a joke about it and it was hilarious! I am finding this group a new daily to thing to check because people at U of I say the funniest things. Hopefully, one day I can post a comment that I overhear on the streets of U of I.

journal 10

(brendan m)
I can hardly regard FB as I used to. In other courses I discuss the evolution of human communication, from morse code to radio, to television, etc. Never before has human communication been so permanent. Our data, our posts, and our actions have so many repercussions that I seriously considered staying off FB before taking this class. More than ever I realize that social networking is a business, and it's recording our personal information. Coincidence? Back in the day radios were initially going to air programming from the radio distributor, and television early on was run in a similar fashion. Something tells me that social networking will eventually grow into a public enterprise, and monopolies on social networks will falter. Just like how IRC chats can be easily manipulated today, social networking in the future may explode into many more competitors than MySpace and FB.

Journal #10

I look on my newsfeed and over half of my current news items are the social interview questions. I haven't checked it out myself because I am now scared of applications. I have always been wary of them because I don't like that I am allowing access to them, but now that I know what some do with the access, I am even more wary. But anyway, I am curious why social interview is the new hot thing. If you don't know the person very well, then it's hard to make interesting answers. Although, my friend posted one on my wall that was, "something she never leaves home without" and my friend put Aaron, my boyfriend. I thought that was funny. And I guess it does give insight on our friendship because we know each other through an activity that my boyfriend and I do together so she always sees me with him. So I guess that does say something. I don't know, I'll be curious to see if anybody is using it by this time next week.

Journal #10

So this week on Facebook I spent some time trying to figure out how to make a fan page. Which is quite hard to figure out I might add, because I couldn’t do it. So earlier today I decided I had to do something different on F-book cause I feel like there isn’t anything new otherwise to write about here. So I Googled how to make a fan page on Facebook and (because the internet is awesome) found a link to create a fan page. I fiddled around with how to add things and update events for the page and it seems relatively easy to uphold. So I put some of the Allen-notes up on the events page and made a discussion topic. I haven’t invited anyone because obviously at this point it isn’t an official page. I think this could work as a page for Allenites to get together and communicate and share ideas about where we live and how much we all love it! One of the benefits I’ve discovered so far is that it’s much easier to create an event for a fan page than it is to create one just normally; it’s a lot more time efficient.

And I feel the best way to end today’s response is with some Facebook related “texts from last night”:

(860): I love seeing the creepers that friend request me outside of facebook. it’s like seeing a unicorn in the middle of campus.

(917): its not facebook stalking, its market research

Journal #10

As usual, I've still succeeded in completely restricting my Facebook usage to a few times a week, only to check up on things. But still, the notifications just keep piling up, from "friendship tokens" to "Grateful Dead bears. After the reading the gloomy details of Facebook's privacy policy, the notion of deleting my facebook account has been coming all too real. While I do like keeping in touch with old friends (in a manner where they don't even know I've been keeping in touch with them), the idea of my personal information being available to people who will judge me on such a materialistic level just doesn't seems to be worth the risk. But then again, the most I've been hoping for is that my career won't include slimebags who would consider those methods actual research. The fact is that I really don't care what private information those scumbags can dig up on me, theoretically it is still a breach of privacy that is simply trivial and unnecessary in job marketing. But this is capitalism after all, so if thousands of other businesses are willing to succumb to such a creepy level, at least Facebook isn't communist.

Journal # 10

Recently FB has been something that I’ve been contemplating about. Many people do things in life only because they want to “follow the herd,” and I feel like I’ve been following the herd. Lately on FB the info and people have been very interesting. You find that a lot of people like to express their feeling via FB and others like to show their alter ego when it comes to how they act and friend making. With my past activity on FB I feel that I am not as connected to FB as other people are. I say this because I am starting to stray from the FB path. I don’t do most of even some of the things I used to do like a month ago. I think FB has become somewhat of a boring hobby for me, but then again this may just be a phase knowing me lol.

Journal #10

So I'm sitting on my bed getting ready for the day, and all of a sudden I realize I haven't checked my facebook yet. I have 10 minutes before I have to leave for class, and what do I do? I turn my computer all the way on and check my facebook, update my status, and I am relieved. How pathetic is that? I have thoroughly become addicted to facebook, it is the first site I check in the morning, I update it through my phone during the day, and it is the last site I look at in the night. I know that it is for a class, and that it's okay to check facebook every once and a while, but I hate having addictions and this is becoming one. Once this class is over I'm going to have to detox myself from this. Perhaps even take a break away from my dear Matt Cackley. I will probably suffer some sort of withdrawl symptoms perhaps I will even get involved in another site on the side, oh my I might cheat on facebook.

This is becoming too mcuh, it has gotten to the point when I can't even sit and write a paper without checking my facebook a few times. But I like it so much, so it can't be that bad, it's not like I'm on Farmville (which I blocked today by the way ANN)! No it's really just checking to see if anyone commented on my status, or if there is a new post that I want to look at, I guess I am only on for a few mintues every time. It can't be that bad. Thats my story for right now, I will continue with my addiction, until it consumes me or the class ends, whichever happens first.

Journal #10

Recently, I read an article about how online rejection can sting just as much as rejection in person. While using my fake account this week, I realized that was true. I sent a few messages back and forth with a girl to whom I'd sent a friend request, and it was such a silly, casual conversation. As she asked interrogated me a little, I told her the truth that I had found her through the puppy chow fan page, and I tried to play it all innocent-like. I really thought it would work on her, as every line she wrote in our message conversation ended in "lol." But at one point, when I asked her again if we could be friends, she gave me an outright "no." And that rejection crushed me... for an hour, anyway.

On another random topic, ever since last week, I have taken special notice when my friends invite me to join those "1,000,000 people" groups. I had never really thought about what those groups were for until we discussed it in class, and now to see people I know joining these groups makes me cringe a little.

Also, lately, I have found it rather passive-aggressive of certain people (such as my sister and a few close friends who are in on the secret) to suggest that Sara O'Donnell become a fan of Not Playing FarmVille. That is not going to happen.

Prompt#10: Youth and social networking

Imagine a younger relative (sibling, cousin, niece/nephew) sends you a Facebook friend request. This takes you by surprise because they are only 11-13 years old. However, you bite, and accept the Friend request. You immediately send them a message about being safe and secure on Facebook. What do you tell them to do? What do you tell them not to do?

Your assignment is to write this letter to your young family member. After you have written this letter. Debrief me and tell me why you wrote what you did.

Journal #9

Oih. Another week of ignoring game requests, endless capitalist spamming and senseless drama queens. Maybe I should try to find something more positive to focus on for this journal. I guess the first, which I haven't mentioned before, must be that I don't even need to try to keep up with one of my friends comics, because he always uploads his daily strips to his facebook account, which comes up on my news feed. Usually I would have to tear apart a edition of the Daily Illini to get to it, but this week I found out that is not necessary.

Also, every time I see a link to the group, "If 1m people join, girlfriend will let me turn our house into a pirate ship", I at least get a little chuckle out of myself". Apparently there are almost 2 million people to have join, but no proof of a pirate ship household has been given thus far. Pity. And with this failure of the internet, I shall end this week' account.

journal #9

We were discussing security lately, and I often wonder what constitutes security online. Nothing is really secure, (Citibank losing millions of SSNs is a good example) and in the end it's almost more important who is seeing your info rather than if they can. Managing the amount of people that have access to your info, I have found, is best. I also avoid free offers and sign-ups like the plague. After going through with one, I'll get spam calls months later.

I don't mind if some people see my facebook info and they aren't people I know. Financial information is different, and is much easier to protect if you are smart about it. I think the whole argument about "facebook making everything private and you choose what is public" is a good thing. It's like turning on the heating in the fall. It may be nice out for a few days and the heat isn't needed, but when it gets chilly you'll be glad it was running.

I also believe that too much security could be detrimental. Remembering passwords for all the college sites and the pages deactivating is annoying. I understand the security needed, but I think it's too much. At least give me an extra ten minutes before signing me out.

Journal #9 November 2

Recently, I realized how much we use facebook with our meat friends. Our statuses relate to the things that we did together. Our statuses also kind of relate to each other. When we are right next to each other, we go on facebook and play around with it. Yesterday, my friends and I made facebook our source of entertainment. We uploaded many pictures and videos. We decided to have a dance party in a dorm room and then we made a video of it and posted it in our facebooks. My friend would change her status and then I would comment on it a second after because it related to me. We literally started an argument with our statuses. It was really funny. Also, one friend was addicted to facebook so we needed to change his password for him. He would stop going on facebook so much. It will interesting for him because he will be completely blocked from facebook. It will help him do his work though. What would we do with out facebook? We would get so bored and the point of having a dance party would become completely useless. Gotta love facebook!

Journal 9

Well, as everyone knows last weekend was Halloween. I event for all hollows eve and I didn’t not really get to partake in any spooky festivities, besides the regularly scheduled scary movie at the movie theatre and nice bite to eat afterwards. Unfortunately I really didn’t check my facebook but once this weekend. On facebook I found that a lot of people I know here and at other schools were enjoying themselves. Within an hour of my return I was back on facebook and noticed a lot of new picture postings on the right side f my news feed section on my facebook page. It looked cool and I like how everyone is allowed to post almost any picture they wanted without it being too graphic lol. On a good note though, I got in touch with someone I was really missing for the past two years lol. I love that facebook allows for you to find those you love and care about, while at the same time letting you view their personality ( how they act and portray themselves on FB) before you engage in any quick conversation.

Journal #9

So this past week I got to deal with predator type people on Facebook. For some reason, creepy, crazy people are drawn to my boyfriend and when he doesn't jump on them, they like to find me on facebook. This happened to me. And when I blocked the original crazy person and adjusted my privacy settings so that only friends and those who are sending friend requests can message me, she got her friend to friend me and send me a message that way. These incidents made it so now I'm paranoid when I see I have a new message or a friend request. That is unnecessary! I don't like how people are using Facebook as a battle ground for them to do stupid, immature, childish things in a way that they don't really have to take responsibility for them. Gr.

But, in better news, I put more albums up! I took a bunch of pictures of the Zombie Mob on Saturday night and I got a chance to upload them tonight. So much fun! I'm always glad when I actually get stuff up on facebook because I always say I will and then I never do. Bad me!!! So you all should check out the zombie mob album and see cute zombies :)

journal 9 november 2

Hi friends!

So when I was sick with the swine flus, my main connection to my social world for a few days was Facebook. I realized then that it really *was* socially useful in a meaningful way...when I returned I had obviously not been present socially but I felt like I hadn't missed a beat as far as knowing what my friends had been up to while I was gone.

I continue to love Facebook photos and commenting on them, but other than that nothing too exciting happened. I posted on people's walls and whatnot to keep in touch -- a few more of my friends got sick while I was gone so I knew who was around and who wasn't when I returned. I also had to reschedule a few things and used Facebook to do so -- for example my friend Theresa and I were supposed to hang out on Sunday but I was not in town so I facebooked her to reschedule for when I got back...what a useful website!!

ALSO ILLINOIS STOMPED MICHIGAN 38-13 WITH 500 YDS OF OFFENSE SATURDAY AND I STILL DONT HAVE A VOICE FROM YELLING SO LOUDLY. That's not related to facebook but it IS awesome.

Journal #9

One of the fun things about Facebook is that I never know who is going to show up on my wall on any given day! There's a group of four or five people who write on my wall most frequently, but every now and then, other totally random people will show up. For example, I had no idea my high-school French teacher was going to comment "Il pleut, il pleut, il pleut!" on my status update complaining about the rain. That might be the first comment she's ever left me. Also, two friends from high school commented on my wall for the first time in many, many months. I guess it's fun to get surprises like this! Also, it's nice to know that just as I follow the lives of many old friends without them knowing it, people are also following my life without my knowing it. So even when I think everybody has forgotten me, they haven't: they'll still randomly see my status updates, and think of me....

The other day, I was Skyping with a friend in another state when I decided to try to befriend him with my fake account. Being the friendly person he is, he accepted the friend request from this strange Sara O'Donnell girl. Sara proceeded to start commenting on his wall and clicking Like on her own wall posts. Meanwhile, through Skype, I was hearing my friend's reaction as he told me about this funny girl on Facebook (who he thought was flirting with him). It was a very funny experience! It wasn't until the next day that my friend asked me if I was Sara, and I'm so bad at lying that I immediately told him yes. Being the playfully annoying person he is, my friend started posting things on Sara's will like "SARA IS A LIE," "THIS IS A FAKE ACCOUNT," etc. So I deleted his posts and had Sara defriend him. And that's the end of that!

journal #9 November 2

Upon writing this journal all I can think of is that Facebook is boring. I use it for the same reasons each week: photos, talking to friends, and Farmville. Otherwise there really isn’t too much to do that I want to spend my time on. I did re-start playing an old favorite game of mine this past week. Guess-the –sketch. It’s just like Pictionary, which is easily one of my favorite bored games. I wonder if there is a game like scatagories on Facebook, I love that game too.

I like the status function on Facebook; it’s kind of like your own personal billboard. Especially when people are clever about what they update, then they are such a joy to read. Lately there have been a couple from this website called texts from last night (I promise this story goes full circle back to Facebook). It’s kind of like FML, people send in weird texts they received and some of them are really funny. But a few came up I feel are necessary to share : “(513): The guy in front of me in Sociology is definitely working on my farm in farmville. Never met him before. Do I thank him?”, “(512): New Low: Just set a reminder on my phone for me to check on things I need to harvest late on Farmville.”, “(620): We're talking about addictions in class and there's a girl 2 rows in front of me on Farmville. Hello, example.”.


Farmville is taking over the world!!!!!! Soon you’ll be able to grow tacos and waffles!! (just for you Katie :] )

Prompt #9: Privacy, Safety and Security

I'd like to have you reflect a bit more on privacy.

Think about what online privacy means to you. Tell me a bit about it. What do you consider to be privacy online?

Is FB in line with what you think privacy online should be?

Do you think that online privacy and online safety are related? If so, how?

Journal #9

Oh what to say about facebook, well I have become more addicted since this class started. That is probably because I feel like it is okay to be on facebook now; before I was only on to while away the time, and I felt guilty for wasting so much time. But now that it is for a class I could spend all day on and just tell people that I'm doing research for my class, and building my social networth. I even added a little gadget to my vista sidebar so that I don't even have to be on facebook to see updates and wall posts, I don't even have to be on the internet, it's just always there, ready for me to update my status or poke someone. I have a problem, but not so much of a problem that I would start playing Farmville again *cough* GROSS!

Matt Cackley has been on more too, as you might think, and he has been conversating with the people who leave him messages. Just about anything, like where they know him from and such, just the usual everyday Cackley things. That, and he likes to leave mean comments on some people's statuses, but hey Matt Cackley is not a nice character.

Just an update: still getting those mature christian singles ads, not cool.

Journal 8

So the first note of interest I should shine upon has to be this new "Live Feed" link on the facebook homepage.... I haven't exactly understood how this is any way different from the old feed. Still, there are already groups live protesting this new "change", but I don't know just what they are really protesting for. To me, it just seems like someone else is hitting the F5 key for me.

Anyways, to continue this sad blog of my facebook like, it seems like I have begun to avoid it on purpose after this week. Old "friends" have unceasingly become ever so annoying, for I can't say at all that I care about the school I suffered three years at just to never stop hearing about it from my younger friends. Funny how they blocked facebook through the student internet their, yet everyone still wastes their time away on the iPhone and such, my friend has his own method of stealing wifi at just the right position with his laptop from one of the houses near the old academy, but it still doesn't keep him from watching anime 24/7. And neither will those blasted iPhones turn off already.

journal #8

Have you noticed how something as trivial as a text window personally offends us? It's just an automated box with words, tailored to interests we have volunteered.

I should clean up house, as in renovate my profile. I have people friended that I don't even know. I think just under fifty people is the ideal number, then again that's just me.
All this maintenance is pretty comical, as somebody from another century might say it's trivial. It's not like it's needed or required, yet so many people feel they must update the profiles because they are an extension of the person. I find that my profile is behind my actual identity by several months at least. Even the way I approach the profile is different now. I gave up on writing about my favorite music, it's just "anything and everything" now.

It's as if our virtual lives are becoming more important than our actual ones. An intriguing concept, but maybe because it's so much easier than actually pursuing people in real life, the easy way out is often chosen.

The more I attend this class, the more of facebook I stop using. Maybe it'll disappear from my life altogether.

Journal #8

Well, it turns out I'm not going to be deleting my fake Facebook account any time soon. I had started using it to play FarmVille, and I spent this past week becoming addicted to that game. In fact, the only reason I'm writing this journal at 12:30 a.m. is that I'm waiting for my FarmVille pumpkins to finish growing so I can harvest them and plant a new set of seeds before going to bed. It was only a few weeks ago that I thought FarmVille was so stupid and I couldn't understand its appeal at all.... *sigh* Now I've been using my fake account much more than my real one, and I don't see it stopping in the near future. Basically, FarmVille has been my entire Facebook life this week.

On another topic, the new change to Facebook, separating the Live Feed and News Feed, is confusing to me, and I hope someone else can explain it. Although there must be a difference between the two, I can't really tell what it is. To me, it just seems like now half of my updates are viewable under one option, and half are viewable under the other, requiring me to check out both sides. How annoying!

journal #8 October 26

So I’d like to start off this week’s post with a mildly humorous story. This weekend I went home and today (Sunday) I went to see part of my sister’s soccer tournament. Lots of the mom’s there were taking action shots of their kids running around the field. One of the mothers had apparently taken a great photo because a bunch of the moms all started shouting, “you better put that one up on your Facebook”. Oh soccer moms, what would we do without you?

When I went home this weekend I went to check my Facebook on my home computer and the layout was all funky. I thought this was just because I wasn’t used to our PC at home. Sadly it wasn’t the computer Facebook has changed its layout…again. Now everyone had just gotten used to the first layout and is going to complain about the change…again. Really though, why keep changing it if it seems to be functioning fine, why fix what isn’t broken?

Today when I went on Facebook some pictures of my friends showed up in that crazy new-fangled news/live-whatever feed. They were sitting on what looked like that railing outside of foellenger facing the quad. It was a bit washed out so I wasn’t sure if it was the union behind them or not, so I asked if it was the quad and when they were down here. It turns out it was this weekend (they post pictures fast!)And I was home, but now the next time they come down we’re going to hang out. So thank you Facebook for better connecting me with a dairy friend!

Prompt #8

This week on Facebook I discovered the live feed button. There is a lot of Facebook that I completely ignore because I don't have time to dilly dally, lol, and so when I see something new that is actually cool and/or helpful I am surprised. Normally I would just hit the button that says "__# of new posts" or whatever, and it wasn't like that was a big inconvenience or anything, but it's kinda nice to just look at the page and see what's new immediately.

Another thing I was noticing, and forgive me if this isn't new, is the "reconnect with this person" part on the right side of the page. Right now it's telling me that I should reconnect with my old fifth grade teacher. You know what's funny? I've tried!!! I wrote on his wall months ago, "remember me? :) " and he never responded! I felt that that was hateful and sad. So tonight Facebook has made me sad. But I did just learn the thriller dance for Zombie Mob, although I don't know if I'll get to do it on Saturday. So that made me happy. Yay, being happy.

Prompt #8: Give me a break

Hey all,

I just realized that I never put up a prompt for Monday. So in light of the fact that it is bite-sized candy season, I will give you a break, give you a break, break you offa piece of that no-prompt-for-tomorrow. And now I have no other choice than to bring in Kit-Kats tomorrow.

Please make sure to do a journal though!

journal 8

I just realized I will miss halloween candy!! No!!! (I'm stuck at home this week -- I have Swine Flu [really] and McKinley sent me home).

Anyway, what's up with this new news feed v. live feed thing, does anyone know? Whatever it is, I really don't like it. I was fine with the news feed at first, and it's a nice way to see what all my friends are up to online -- for example, being quarantined this weekend I missed a good friend's birthday party *and* swing dance my friends were going to. So I got to look at everyone's facebook pictures, which I guess is something. But the news feed/live feed is distracting. I'm not sure where to look and it's overly cluttered. I liked the news feed because it presented things to me simply.

Journal #8 October 26

Something that is becoming very popular on facebook is social interview. Many people are using social interview and it is very interesting. I feel very special when a question about me is asked. I like hearing the answers. It also makes me feel special that other people, that I barely talk to, are taking the time to consider me and answer a question about me. Once I noticed how common social interview was becoming among my friends, I decided to try it out myself. It was fun answering questions about others. I realized that I had nothing to say for the people I rarely talked to. Therefore, I skipped the questions about my unimportant facebook friends. I enjoyed answering questions about my meat friends especially since I knew that we would get a great laugh out of it. Afterwards, the comments I got from my friends were fun to read. This social interview thing was definitely a very entertaining thing to do on facebook. I felt that it was something friendly, safe, and fun. I would not say that it was an useless application that. That is one interesting thing that I have been doing on facebook.

Otherwise, facebook has been pretty much the same for me. I check it consistently to see what people are doing. I noticed how the format was changed on facebook. The news feed is different and it is quite confusing. I don't understand the point of it. Facebook chat and the group pages are also different. It is just another thing that we all have to get used to.

Journal #8

Oh my oh my that week went by fast, but the prospect of halloween candy in Monday's class is keeping it from seeming like it is moving too fast. I hope it's good candy *wink wink* (I like 3 musketeers!) No no jk jk you don't only have to cater to my needs.

So Matt Cackley and I have been talking and we think it would be best if Matt branched out some more, perhaps atarted commenting on other people's posts and status updates, I mean the worst thing that could happen is that they un-friend them. Unless some really paranoid person was to report Matt Cackley, but it was their fault for adding him in the first place so thats probably not that likely. I think it will be tremendous fun to see people's reactions and what they would say to someone they just barely think they can remember remembering at one point in their life. Matt Cackley thrives on that doubt in people's minds; everyone knows everyone these days, even if you don't. "Oh we went to the same summer camp 40 years ago, LETS BE FRIENDS!" A lot of people just accept anyone who offers to be their friend, they think to themselves, "Oh I must have met them before otherwise they wouldn't be friending me." Tsk tsk tsk, those crazy people, but them again where would Matt be without them, probably home alone making tacos for no one but me. But he makes a mighty fine taco if I do say so myself.

So thats my weekly rant, I hope you enjoyed it, or at least didn't smash your head into a wall because you had to read it. meh.

KT and Matt OUT! (yeah he's here right now)

Journal #8

Facebook is fun and interesting right now. I like the fact that I can get online and just connect with friends that I haven’t seen in a long time, but wait if I haven’t seen them nor talked to them in a long time are they really friends? That is the question I ask myself literally every time I get online. I think that Facebook is also a place where you lose friends and many people go through life meeting and forgetting people. My recent facebook activity has been like that of a time machine. I go back four to six years connecting with “old” friends but now I am making and connecting with new people. I get online thinking about what notifications I have and also who I can talk to. I think that my recent facebook activity is fun and interesting.

Journal #7 October 19

Jason Sherman is becoming well known among his friends. People are also beginning to doubt that he is real. As more fake people are created, some people are close to realizing that something might be going on. Lately, I have been hearing quite a few people talking about how these fake people that we have created and how it is so strange that they are friending everyone. There have been two times when my door was knocked on. I was interrogated about who Caleb Brown, Sara O'Donnell, and Jason Sherman are. The first time, I just said these were people in my classes. The second time I just said that I didn't know and that I just friended them because we had mutual friends. It was quite funny how this happened. It is also entertaining to see these people in confusion and feeling like a mastermind confusing so many people.

Lately, Jason has been making friends quite slowly. There have been probably many people who have denied him. It is fun to have a fake person now because I can explore the hype over farmville. I am normally against creating a farmville account, but now I can see what I am missing out on with Jason. I realized that there is nothing that entertaining about farmville. It is hard to keep up with and frankly not that interesting. It is also interesting to see your own meat friends befriending Jason. Some of my meat friends do not really care about who they have befriended while one of them asked me who Jason is. Also, some people do not seem to care that they are befriending someone they don't know. It will be very interesting to see how this goes. One of the issues I am encountering is finding people for Jason to talk to. He might have some friends, but no cares to write on his wall or comment on his status. Clearly, I don't blame them. Not many people would comment or write on a wall of someone they have never heard of.

journal #7

(brendan m)

It's very hard to masquerade as another person without covering all your tracks. Since I used an email address of one of my friends, I can't friend him or else people might make a connection. It's too much of a risk. I also find that my own personality conflicts with taking advantage of those I know, but at the same time I'm not going to reveal the truth to them. I'll just have to friend random people again.

Managing a separate identity is an impossibility as well, because no matter how you try the actions of the other person will be influenced by your own biases and experiences. I also can't be someone who practices things I know nothing about, so in a way we are the same person no matter how hard I try. It's rather frustrating, but really ties into the online psychologist gender swap story. Pretty sobering stuff.

I'll admit that it was fun living a masquerade, though.

journla 7

I got worried earlier this weekend when I realized I had friended a hs friend who actually knew the guy whose picture I was using. Whoops! So I defriended him...anyway, my fakester made a lot more friends this weekend even though I didn't put that much time into him, proving that the digital social life moves on with or without me. So sad. I received my first event invitation with him! Apparently people just throw those out like candy. I have yet to receive a friend request, though, I think that's a good next step.

Journal # 7

Recently face book (FB) has been like a circus for me. With trying to keep up with my fake friend and trying to maintaining the real me it has been a lot of work. Many people have no idea (besides CMN 199) how hard it is to have a double life. For the past week I have had a lot of funny and unexpected encounters on FB. Many people from my past have been trying to enter back into my life by adding me on face book, I M, and by sending me all types of messages. I like the attention but it gets to be too much after awhile. This weekend I wasn’t really on FB because my better half came to see me all the way from NIU. I just spent my FB time posting various things and my feelings while I was with them doing stuff. I just like FB so much because it gives you an unlimited amount of FREE space to be you and post and chat about how you feel and how someone else can make you feel. For the past few days I have been using FB as a tool to keep people at bay and also close to me. FB is the spot to sit back relax and I M while watching your favorite movie or TV shows with the one you love.