"Put an org chart in front of any executive today and he or she
will tell you that the boxes and lines only partially reflect the
way things are done in the organization." (Clive Thompson)
There is this perception that people have this clear idea of what exactly is going on around them. There is a huge difference between what people see on a screen or on a chart and reality. Facebook is a really good example of this in that there are some who delude themselves into thinking they are popular just because they have a lot of friends. They fail to consider the fact that there may be people they have not talked to in years or their friend's friend who they met at a party and have not seen since. These people with hundreds of friends may then find themselves in the situation where they have 50 friends signed on to chat, but no one they would actually want to have a conversation with, in person or via computer.
Some people may insist that they really do know the difference between people they accepted as friends out of pity or some extenuating circumstance and their real friends, but as Clive Thompson said, "those who are most adamant in asserting that they know their network are usually the farthest off base." So these people who insist they know exactly where they stand with all of their Facebook friends may be the least in touch with reality in terms of who they are likely to see on Friday night.
I agree with you wholeheartedly. It seems that some people use Facebook as a means to aggregate friends instead of keeping in touch with friends, or expanding your "real-life" network.
ReplyDeleteI know when I first got my facebook page I went around friending every person I could possibly think of. But as I've used Facebook more and more I've moved towards the "quality over quantity" ideology.
I think it's crazy that some people have over a 1,000 friends, but at the same time it's a great way to keep in touch with people. Without Facebook, those friends that we hardly ever see or talk to would completely disappear; at least now we have the chance to reconnect with them.
ReplyDeleteTo a certain degree, I think Linsey has a valid point. Facebook can allow us to get back in touch with people who we may not have been able to any other way but that is a relatively rare occurrence. I know I am still Facebook friends with many people from high school I no longer talk to, nor do I really intend to talk to them again soon However, I beg to differ that friendships with people rarely seen or spoken too are staying alive BECAUSE of Facebook. There are emails and phone calls and a variety of other ways to maintain contact. If you have to rely on Facebook to maintain a friendship, then maybe it's not really a friendship.
ReplyDeleteI view facebook as a way to stay connected to friends from back home when I am at school and vice versa. I am not a huge phone person, because being on the phone forever just annoys me. Therefore facebook is a great alternative to stay in touch for me. So I completely agree with Linsey.
ReplyDeleteAlso I have no idea why some people have so many friends, I actually recently went through my friend list and deleted people who I had no idea who they were. I think they were a result of first coming to college and people just friending each other.
Last point this new spam friending that seems to be happening is really weird. It has happen to me a few times, and at first I friended them because I saw that most of my close friends were friends with them, leading me to believe that I must know them. Then I realized no one had any idea who this person was, so instead of deleting him most people just stayed friends.
I completely agree. People have completely different lives online and in reality. The internet is a great way to connect with people, but it also shows a diluted point of view. Some people get way to interested in their social networks and it takes over their lives, while the point of networks such as facebook and myspace is to connect with people.
ReplyDeletewhen i first got accepted to AU, i will have to admit that i am guilty of doing the "friend every attractive girl i found on facebook." I also am guilty of having many people on FB chat that i would never talk to at times. With that being true, there have been the occasion where at 4AM i will get a FB chat from someone who i would never think of to talk to, but they saw a chance to catch up which i saw as a pleasant surprise.
ReplyDeleteI just heard of today a social network called small world that solves this issue of "insincere friend requesting". If your friend request is rejected 3 times you are out of the network, so you must only friend people who you believe you have a connection with.