Thursday, October 18, 2012

The Love and Hate Relationship With Facebook


Facebook and I have a love hate relationship. I love the connections but I hate the overall scheme of Facebook and the potential consequences. I have had an awkward situation arise because of something I posted on Facebook in response to a post on Facebook from my apartment-mate. At the time of the post we were not talking to each other because of a big problem. My old apartment-mate found therapy in writing on Facebook about her problems. My other apartment-mate’s were a little not so neat freakish as she was and she decided to write out a post on Facebook saying that everyone she lived with was dirty and a friend of mine pointed it out to me. That was the start of our Facebook war. It was childish and went on for days until we both got tired of writing on Facebook. Friends and Family members were commenting on our posts and making us feel like little kids by scolding us about our Facebook war of words with each other.

According to the article: A World I Don’t Inhabit: Disquiet and Identity In Second Life and Facebook, “There are a number of reasons to question the appropriateness of Facebook as a cohort enhancer, though:  it has been recorded that young students do not like teachers or parents in “their” space, especially if they are making embarrassing attempts to be cool;  there is little control over what your ‘friends’ send you;  the zany comment or picture that seemed like a good idea at the time later feels a bit frivolous, but the tracking system in Facebook makes you draw attention to it if you take it away.”

A situation in reference to this article once happened to me as well. I am from New York City and I go to Buffalo State (8 hours away from the city) my dad has a Facebook page and so I added him as a way to keep in touch. That was a big mistake. I wrote a “bad word” and my dad decided to write a story about his disappointment in my use of language on my Facebook wall. I was very upset with him so I deleted him off of Facebook and we stopped talking for about 3 months. Needles to say lesson learned (Don’t add your dad on Facebook).

According to the Article: Examining Students’ Intended Image on Facebook: “What Were They Thinking?!, students post certain content to get cool points or to humor their friends with their various posts. This is true to an extent. I think that if you have ever had a Facebook in life drawing attention and getting likes or comments is a main goal for posting in the first place. The Facebook project for class was not the first time I used Facebook but this is the first time I have used Facebook for organizational purposes. I mostly use Facebook for personal use, networking and keeping in touch with my friends and family from home. My first impression about using Facebook for organizational use was that it was fairly easy. I thought that it would be a little harder to create a page but it was literally a click away. I think that since it was so easy to create and use every organization should have one which I realized a lot of organizations do have a Facebook.
Others may use Social Networking sites for PR. The article http://www.toprankblog.com/2009/11/social-media-pr/  states a few uses for the ties PR and Social Networking sites. These uses for PR can also be for general usage and not just PR.
1.      Authenticity/personality - building a brand and having people see your brand.
2.      It Scales - brands just keep getting popular
3.      It gives bragging rights by giving leverage


When first starting the project the instructor insisted on the class starting a new Facebook because she wanted to separate our personal Facebook’s from our class Facebook’s.  It’s like giving the class a fresh start on a professional Facebook page. I actually had to use my personal Facebook page because the administrators of Facebook blocked my access to my class Facebook.

Using my Facebook for this project concerned me because it is my personal Facebook and I have no idea what I may feel the need to post or what my friends might post. I was a little concerned about privacy. I feel that no matter how private you try to be on Facebook it is impossible. My Facebook is “private” and if you are not a friend you cannot see my posts, pictures, friends list etc… If you are a family member of mine you probably cannot see pictures I am tagged in as well as posts that I am tagged in. I think that with all the features on Facebook none of the information you put up on Facebook is private. When showing a person who did not have my number my Facebook page there was an option to “call” me and that kind of upset me because I hid my number on Facebook but low and behold there was an option to “call” me.

            When using Facebook there are certain things that I have learned over time.
1.      Do not take over people news feeds. This Means do not just write to write, space out the time because over writing can cause you to be deleted.
2.      Do not add people you do not know. It is a major safety risk adding people you do not know. A lot of times you are adding fake pages and spam..
3.      The content you post is just as important. If you post content that is sure to make family members upset and cause problems refrain from posting anything that is offensive.
4.      Do not start Facebook wars because it can make you look ridiculous and very childish
5.      Pictures that depict illegal activities is a no-no! i.e. underage drinking, drug use etc...

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