PennTags /tag/identity_formation+virtual

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Youths try different Lent focus: Facebook - baltimoresun.com

This is a humorous article which examines the phenomenon of college students giving up Facebook for lent. Articles like this really show how social networking sites have become part of the zeitgeist. Instead of giving up fried food or soda, many students are opting to give up logging on to instant messenger and Facebook.com. A surprising twist is that the clerics interviewed for the article actually support this; they say that giving up something like Facebook not only constitutes a true sacrifice but also frees up one’s time for other things. However, certain students were worried that they would feel utterly cut off from their social networks and friends during this period, missing out on birthday reminders, events, wall posts, etc. The way that this article presents Facebook as, “the connective tissue of undergraduate life” shows how ubiquitous this social network is and how important it has become to many of its members, who often spend hours on the site each day or week. However, in giving Facebook up for lent, there is also the connotation that it is something unhealthy that one is addicted to. One student admitted that she felt better not being on Facebook and wasn’t stalking people as much (only in the online sense of course). This article illustrates how important Facebook has become to many college students and when they give it up, even for just 40 days, there is the sort of discomfort that goes along with abandoning what has become a part of your identity, social life, and daily routine.

belongs to Social Networking Communities Online (e.g. Facebook) project
tagged facebook.com identity_formation internet social_networks students virtual_friends by rachee ...on 10-MAR-07

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NY Times: Too Few Friends? A Website Lets You Buy Some (and They're Hot)

This New York Times articles discusses the Website FakeYourSpace.com which essentially sells its clients “friends” on social networking sites like Friendster.com, Facebook.com, and MySpace.com. The fact that this service exists illustrates not only how ubiquitous and popular social networking sites are but also how important they are to users. People will actually pay to appear more popular to those who might be checking their profiles online. Clearly, these networking sites have become an integral part in the identity formation and subjectivity of their users. The reason that this particular site was in the news was because they used pictures (of the “fake” friends) without a license to do so. The photos came from iStockPhoto.com and that company asked the founder of FakeYourSpace.com, Brant Walker, to stop using their photos. He complied and the Website was only down for 4 days. This is not the only site of its kind, nor are these types of services restricted to online social networks. One can also pay a fee to have messages left on his cell phone from “friends.”

This article highlights not only the interesting phenomenon of attractive “friends” on an online network increasing one’s value in the virtual and real world, but also the moral ramifications of such fakes. As long as the photographs are legally licensed, there are no legal problems, but the clients still have to see the falsity and superficiality of what they are doing. The service only costs 99 cents per month, so if it became popular enough (it already has 50,000 hits per month) , it ironically could actually negate the distinction between what the article calls, “cyberlosers” versus “social-networking magnets.” I wish the article had included quotes from actual users saying how they felt about the service (how frequently they use it/how many "fake" friends they have, how satisfied they are with it, do they feel it actually makes a difference in how their actual online friends perceive them).

belongs to Social Networking Communities Online (e.g. Facebook) project
tagged facebook.com identity_formation online_popularity social_networks virtual_friends by rachee ...on 10-MAR-07