«My Friends are my Audience»: Mass-mediation of Personal Content and Relations in Facebook (original) (raw)
Related papers
Socializing and Self-Representation online: Exploring Facebook.
OBS - Observatorio 6(1): 87-105., 2012
Blurring boundaries between producers and audiences are widely acknowledged (Bruns, 2005; Jenkins, 2007) Troubling of the distinction between producers and audiences is particularly striking in new media forms, such as social networking sites on the Internet. The role of the audience is no longer solely that of spectator, but now includes producing, spectating and socializing. The social network site Facebook has fast become a popular arena for socializing, and reached a ‘critical mass’ in Europe and, in the process of socializing participants must construct self representations. The paper will analyze how the social network institution and the technological features shape the possibilities for socializing and self- representation. The paper will be in three parts, the first part exploring the socialization aspect, the second part exploring the self-representation aspect and the conclusion drawing out some implications of the combined analysis of socializing and self-representation. The media industry has increasingly recognized the potential in institutionalizing people’s desire to be included in communities and to socialize in mediated spaces (Enli and Syvertsen, 2007). Online communities can be placed in a historical line of ideals of a more democratic media production (Brecht, 1979; Enzenberger, 1979; Corner 1994). New media are likewise expected to include more people in the process as producers and not just consumers of the product, through meaning production and digital storytelling. Social network sites such as Facebook have institutionalized and mediatized personal processes of socializing and display of identity, which traditionally have belonged to the private and non mediated spheres. These online communities combine features from mass media with features from personal media. The paper will explore the concept of digital friendship, and discuss the arena for socializing and self-represenation. How do the users negotiate the hybrid position between being private and being public, with what implications? In the process of socializing online in Facebook, people construct textual representations. Representations are always mediated by what they consist of; texts, photographs, moving image, pencil drawing, for example, and how they are framed; in a gallery, on a website, on a cinema screen, for example. Of course mediation begins before, and continues well beyond the production and display of ‘texts’ (Silverstone, 1999; Couldry, 2006; Martin-Barbero, 1993). This paper will address one dimension of the mediation process: the ‘processes of textual mediation’ (Thumim, 2012, 2009) in order to explore self-representations in Facebook. Self-representation as it is used here points to members of the public representing themselves and thereby affecting an intervention into ‘old’ media practices whereby the public are represented by media professionals. Boyd (2007) argues that the cost of the social convergence occurring in social networking sites is a sense of exposure and invasion. The combination of exploring socializing and self-representation allows us to speculate as to possibilities and limitations for self-representation in the infrastructure in Facebook, and how these intersect with users’ negotiation of their hybrid position between being in private and being in public.
Publicized modes of appearance and appropriate participation on Facebook
2014
This paper discusses performed appearance and negotiated norms of appropriate behavior on the social network site Facebook. Whereas former studies tended to highlight how communicating on Facebook adapts to neoliberal discourses on networking as means of self-promotion and intensified connectivity, we are going to argue that Facebook is rather about an ambiguous performativity of everyday life by which politicized discourses are filtered through social interaction and personal embodiment. Accordingly, we are going to demonstrate, how legitimate discourse on Facebook takes the form of “publicized modes” of appearance and an ongoing negotiation of “(in)appropriate” behavior, shared content and other forms of contribution.
Existing literature on technology-mediated social relations, and especially on social network sites (SNS), has mainly adopted a platform-centric approach. For a better understanding of technology-supported social relations, however, an accurate knowledge of specific platforms should be integrated with an ecological perspective (see Jenkins et al., 2009). Following the networked individualism (Wellman, 2004) and the networked sociability (Castells et al., 2007) approaches, the new patterns of sociability seem to be built on me-centred networks (Rainie & Wellman, 2012). Adopting an ecological approach, our research focuses on the (networked) individual and on his/her social relations, considering the whole spectrum of platforms where he/she interacts with others, managing relational patterns and identity performances. Following this perspective, we can also underline specific media “ideologies” people follow when selecting the platforms where to pursue specific purposes (see Gershon, 2010), with regard to different contexts and interlocutors (close friends, family, acquaintances, colleagues, etc.) In order to explore such an approach, we have chosen a set of qualitative methods, realizing 4 focus groups and 20 in-depth interviews with young italian people (age 18-26). Our research questions are the following: − do young people have a precise representation (ideology) of the peculiarities of different digital platforms? − Do they perceive some platform as more appropriated for specific tasks, contexts, relational patterns? − Considering a specific platform (e.g. Facebook) are there communicative practices (tools, actions, etc.) that are perceived as more intimate than others? − How are such representations built and shared among their peer-groups? − How do they verbalize their representations of different platforms and the motivations for such perceived differences? As a stimulus, we offered a set of different scenarios, such as birthday greetings (both from/to close friends and acquaintances), the organization of a large party, etc., asking respondents how would they act in such different situations. Usage experiences, misunderstandings related to different media “ideologies”, appropriate and inappropriate usage patterns were also discussed. Results show that young people both follow group-specific norms and more individualized usage patterns. All of our respondents, however, show to have a clear picture of what can be defined as an appropriate use of digital technology in relation to specific purposes, contexts, tie strength, etc. Among the dimensions that have been used to motivate such perceived differences: publicity, communicative bandwidth, synchrony vs asynchrony, investment in terms of time and money, etc. Moreover, even younger people seem to tribute a high emotional value to face-to-face interaction, often opposing a critical distance (at least in terms of self-representation) towards SNS. In our opinion, the relevance of our contribution relies on the fact that specific norms and usage patterns appear to organize user choices when interacting with friends and family (also) through social media. Shared usage norms appear as a dynamic and constantly negotiated process: what our respondents used to perceive as an appropriate behavior in the past (e.g. Birthday greetings on close friends' Facebook walls) is no longer accepted as legitimate.
Appearance, affect and appropriate participation on Facebook
2016
In this article, we address how norms of appearance and participation on the social network site Facebook are negotiated through the personal profiles and interactions of a sample of Danish Facebook users. The study is based on a survey followed by focus group interviews and observation of participants’ profiles. We argue that communication on Facebook is characterized by an ambiguous performativity by which politicized discourses on public appearance are socially filtered and negotiated as social norm-building. Accordingly, we demonstrate how the personal profiles of Facebook take the form of ‘publicized modes’ of appearance and how a negotiation of ‘appropriate’ vs ‘inappropriate’ participation is taking place.
Governing the Facebook Self: Social Network Sites and Neoliberal Subjects
The internet was once celebrated as a place in which anonymity allowed its users to experiment and play with multiple forms of identity. The rise of Social Network Sites (SNS) has altered the ways in which people engage with the internet. Instead of being potentially anonymous users are now likely to be ‘nonymous’ where displays of selfhood are grounded in already-existing relationships that contribute to verifiable, authenticated, unified identities. Furthermore, the spaces in which the self is presented online are highly structured spaces in which users’ behaviours are both constrained and enabled in pre-determined ways. One such space is Facebook, the focus of this thesis. The argument is that Facebook is a space where forms of selfhood align with the dominant logics of neoliberalism. Facebook is used routinely by hundreds of millions of people around the world. Spaces like Facebook are predicated on mutual forms of display. Facebook’s very design constitutes a particular form of social surveillance architecture. These aspects coalesce in such a way that Facebook becomes a site in which its users are, knowingly or unknowingly, engaged in activities that require the government of the self. Within the Facebook space users find their behaviours guided in particular ways. Users themselves engage in processes of self- monitoring and self-regulation. In this way Facebook facilitates the operation of power through its use as a technology of the self in which contemporary Selves are performatively constructed through an ongoing engagement with the site. This thesis applies a Foucauldian-oriented understanding of power and government to the analysis of Facebook use employing concepts of governmentality, panopticism, subjectification, and the power/knowledge nexus. The research data was gathered using a ‘facet’ methodology approach that involved a survey, interviews, and online observation. This combination of approaches enabled the broad attitudes and behaviours of Facebook users’ to be explored and some of the underlying motivations and beliefs to be identified. Online observations of users’ daily engagement revealed both what this particular sample of Facebook users actually ‘do’, and the sorts of Selves that emerge through their everyday behaviours. Ultimately, Facebook is shown to be a social surveillance architecture and part of a discursive formation that supports and reinforces neoliberalism. Facebook’s unique design, the emerging norms of Facebook use, and the proliferation of discursive warnings related to improper usage combine to effect a twofold seduction of its users. In the first place it proffers its users a sense of freedom, while simultaneously leading them to conform to a narrowing range of acceptable behaviours. The sense of freedom is coupled with relationships of power that encourage individualisation and normalisation such that Facebook users should become responsibilised self-governing neoliberal subjects.
Negotiating and Constructing Identities through Facebook Communication
This study was premised on the observation that in the contemporary moment, the online construction and presentation of the self has become a general cultural practice. Using the idea of persona, a concept that explains the presentation of the self and masks that people " wear " to constructthemselves in real and virtual settings, this paper argues that the existence of multiple personas is clearly demonstrated in the context of Facebook communication. Using a " desktop " analysis of a selected Facebook pages, and a semi-structured interviewing of the owners of the selected Facebook pages, this study explored the construction of self by Facebook activists in order to identify how they negotiated and constructed personas that they deployed and employed in their everyday Facebook communication. This study also established the versions of identities that emanated from such constructions and how those versions came to prominence.