☀ It was interesting to read about the News Feed feature to Facebook. Today, millions of users rely on the News Feed to tell them what is going on. I look at this article written in 2008, a year after I got my Facebook, and I can always remember the News Feed feature. Facebook has changed multiple times since I first got mine, but the News Feed was always present. It's interesting to think that people opted out of the News Feed and didn't want it because today I know people can't live without it. I think it was smart that Zuckerberg created a privacy feature so users could decided what they wanted on the web for everyone to see. I still think the privacy feature for the reason of covering up material in your Facebook is silly. Why would you put something on the web in the first place if you are going to use a privacy setting to hide it? I can see hiding your page from users and making it private so that friends you accept can see, but why put information up if you plan on not letting anyone see? I never comprehended that.
☀ It is fascinating to think that 100 million people are on Facebook. I searched just the name 'Amanda" in the Facebook search bar and over 1 million users came up. It's crazy to think so many people are on this social network to stay connected with people.
☀ One comment I disagree with Clive Thompson is the quote of people being over the age of 30 find activities such as networking absurd. Maybe it's because networking has become more popular since this article was first written, but I know a lot of people over the age of 30 who are on Facebook and enjoy it immensely, specifically my mother. She finds it a great way to stay connected to her high school friends, work friends, and people she hasn't seen in 30 years. I know she recently found someone on Facebook with whom she hasn't spoken to since she was a Freshman in high school, and my mother finds it to be the most incredible thing.
☀ The article then describes text messaging to be the first communication tool, and I have to agree. Before social networks, people were able to send a short text, and find out what someone was doing, kind of like Twitter in a sense. Instead of calling someone, texting made it easier to communicate with someone faster, if necessary. I know I use over 1000 text messages a month. Yes, I am afraid I am a text message junkie.
☀ I like how the article described social networks as "Ambient intimacy-a way to feel less alone" (Clive 4). For me personally, with my boyfriend being in another country, social networking has allowed us to feel closer together than we actually are with continuous messages back and forth. It is different from E-Mail because I can chat with him through the chat feature of Facebook, I can look at his pictures to feel as though I am able to experience his trip in Italy with him.
☀ I found the Dunbar number interesting. The number is 150, and I have 455 friends. I looked at them and I talk to around 300 of these people more than just on occasion. So I think this number may not be as prevalent as it may have been beforehand. I just look back on high school and I graduated with around 400 students. I knew a majority of the students I graduated with and talked to them frequently, so I have troubles seeing Dunbar's number. I can see where some people are just "friends" on Facebook just because, but I think people's social backgrounds have expanded to more than 150 people over the years. The article also discusses that people define who you are if you aren't on Facebook. I strongly have to disagree. I don't think people care, or at least the people I talk to, one way or the other if you have a Facebook. This article discussed how this lady heard she was talked about and had unflattering photos of her posted on Facebook. I think this kind of thing doesn't happen that often, or people have matured about social networks over the years. I know a lot of people who don't have Facebooks to protect themselves from potentially being harmed in the job market and no one talks about them or defines them.
☀ Lastly, the thing I found to be a great idea and an awful idea is having a Facebook for Kindergardeners. I think it would be great because at a young age, children would be able to learn how to use social networks and become tech savvy for their futures. They can stay in contact with class mates at a young age, making it difficult to lose contact after graduation. This is an awful idea because with become tech savvy, children will be able to find things parents may not want them to find, i.e, sex, drugs, online predators. If this were to happen, there would have to be much approval from parents and administration, along with a lot of supervision.
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