This week there were no fewer than 4 great articles in Sunday's NY Times about social media, (styles section: celebrity Twitter ecosystem) and three others I'm attaching below. One of the comments that came out of the facebook article was about a teacher who wanted to friend his whole class to talk about rehearsals from a dance where parents thought it was 'creepy.' In Tuesday's online session we might envision another way he could have pulled off the same thing electronically without invading their facebook lives using another of the tools we've been using.
Also, in the same Facebook article, regarding facebook's connectivity, Mr. Zuckerberg recalls the story of Claus Drachmann, a schoolteacher in northern Denmark who became a Facebook friend of Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Denmark’s prime minister. The teacher invited his Prime Minister to speak to his class of special-needs children; and the prime minister did just that.
Do stories like this illustrate facebook’s power to cut through arbitrary social barriers or are they just good fodder for publicity ? Zuckerberg says “This represents a generational shift in technology,” and adds, “To me, what is interesting was that it was possible for a regular person to reach the prime minister and that that interaction happened.” Do you agree that this is more than a random exception or does this medium really allow for the public to get closer than ever to representation?
For other articles about participatory media this week in Sunday's NY Times you might want to check out 3 articles: the Wikipedia story from the Week in Review section, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/weekinreview/29cohen.html
the one about the fact that widespread anger and collective passivity exist side by side: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/opinion/29venkatesh.html
and and the article on Facebook's growing personality... http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/technology/internet/29face.html
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I definitely agree with the idea that a medium such as facebook brings us closer to members across status, prestige, level of power etc. Part of it has to do with the effect of being "hidden" behind a screen. This depersonalization can be harming but it can also break down some guards that would otherwise inhibit interaction. A way in which I have experienced this is through being friends with one of my favorite artists on Facebook. She posts updates about what she's doing, her child, her gigs etc. The similarity of her posts to all of my other friends' posts, makes her appear more accessible, more real and less of a distant, famous person I might have idealized as a teenager.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that facebook is a very powerful tool of connectedness(if I can use that word)and a way to cut through social barriers. The start of the story demonstrates the power because Mr. Harper starts a group to protest the new "Terms of Service"(which impresses me because who actually reads them)and by noon he has 800 members who have joined the protest. I think that by the end of his story there was no true follow through which is a bit disconcerning. You get the ball rolling, but there is no true follow through. I think that is true of our society on a whole.
ReplyDeleteThe other part of the article with the school teacher from Denmark friending the Prime Minister and him actually coming to the class show that this tool is great and that politicians, celebrities, etc. actually want to connect to the common people.