Internet and online Communities
Tutorial six looks at investigating the online community, facebook.
Facebook address: www.facebook.com
Focus:
Facebook enables people to communicate with other people on the other side of the world, across the room and with people in different cities. Facebook allows you to upload photos, leave comments privately or for the public to view on other peoples pages, create a status (e.g., how you are feeling today). These statuses are a good way to see what someone has been up to and how they are feeling.
What services does Face book provide?
Face book encourages people to join groups and become friends with people that they know. Facebook also only enables people to look at your page if you are friends with that person. If you are not friends with that person it gives you the option to "add as a friend." People contribute to the site by commenting on photos, status and leaving messages on a friends page. face book also provides a shat page where you can talk to a friend like the MSN chat site. This is as instant as talking to someone face to face.
People mainly choose to contribute to this community as it is a form of communication. It is an easy form of communication for someone to keep in touch with friends and family that may be overseas. A comment or message is instant and does not cost and is therefore sometimes a cheaper way to keep in touch. In the past people would write letters and ring using the phone. However letters can take weeks to arrive and ringing can be very expensive.
Main topics talked about on face book:
The main topics that are talked about on face book are peoples well-being, general gossip and weekend activities. For example "Hey, how was your weekend? the party was so much fun! coffee this week?" This excerpt is an example of the types of comments people leave on their friends page. However people may also leave comments about their general life such as 'Lauren Irvine only has one week to go before it is holiday.'
Ethical issues
Ethical issues need to be taken into consideration is photos being uploaded without consent and other people being able to see them if they are not on your page. Anybody can upload a photo for example a friend may upload a picture of you from the weekend that you do not like. This picture is able to be viewed by that persons 'friends' and you are not able to take that picture down.
Benefits
There are many benefits on face book. These are:
What does face book lack?
Face book lacks the ability for an individual to maintain their privacy. Anybody can upload photos of you and any of your friends can view your page and therefore this can increase the risk of this online community being misused. An example of this maybe making your address or phone number visible online. This will enable anybody to know where you live and/or send you prank phone calls. Therefore your safety may also be at risk.
Facebook address: www.facebook.com
Focus:
Facebook enables people to communicate with other people on the other side of the world, across the room and with people in different cities. Facebook allows you to upload photos, leave comments privately or for the public to view on other peoples pages, create a status (e.g., how you are feeling today). These statuses are a good way to see what someone has been up to and how they are feeling.
What services does Face book provide?
Face book encourages people to join groups and become friends with people that they know. Facebook also only enables people to look at your page if you are friends with that person. If you are not friends with that person it gives you the option to "add as a friend." People contribute to the site by commenting on photos, status and leaving messages on a friends page. face book also provides a shat page where you can talk to a friend like the MSN chat site. This is as instant as talking to someone face to face.
People mainly choose to contribute to this community as it is a form of communication. It is an easy form of communication for someone to keep in touch with friends and family that may be overseas. A comment or message is instant and does not cost and is therefore sometimes a cheaper way to keep in touch. In the past people would write letters and ring using the phone. However letters can take weeks to arrive and ringing can be very expensive.
Main topics talked about on face book:
The main topics that are talked about on face book are peoples well-being, general gossip and weekend activities. For example "Hey, how was your weekend? the party was so much fun! coffee this week?" This excerpt is an example of the types of comments people leave on their friends page. However people may also leave comments about their general life such as 'Lauren Irvine only has one week to go before it is holiday.'
Ethical issues
Ethical issues need to be taken into consideration is photos being uploaded without consent and other people being able to see them if they are not on your page. Anybody can upload a photo for example a friend may upload a picture of you from the weekend that you do not like. This picture is able to be viewed by that persons 'friends' and you are not able to take that picture down.
Benefits
There are many benefits on face book. These are:
- Keep in touch with family and friends
- See photos straight away of friends or family members are doing
- Useful form of conversation as it is cheaper than calling overseas.
- Face book also enables users to join a range of groups. For example these groups maybe in relation to religion, culture, politics and can even be used as a way to raise awareness and fund raise. This became evident to me when my friend skyked the length of New Zealand for canteen. He set up a face book page enabling people to join and show their support. This raised awareness for canteen and encouraged more people to donate. This saved time going door to door raising the money.
What does face book lack?
Face book lacks the ability for an individual to maintain their privacy. Anybody can upload photos of you and any of your friends can view your page and therefore this can increase the risk of this online community being misused. An example of this maybe making your address or phone number visible online. This will enable anybody to know where you live and/or send you prank phone calls. Therefore your safety may also be at risk.
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