This link has been bookmarked by 75 people . It was first bookmarked on 25 Sep 2007, by KO -.
-
09 Jul 19
-
27 Sep 11
Carrie GreenVirtual Friendship and the New Narcissism
-
01 May 09
-
26 Mar 08
-
25 Mar 08
-
19 Mar 08
Yvonne FrindleSocial networking profiles are compared to the self-portraits of the rich and powerful in centuries past.
-
29 Feb 08
-
Virtual Friendship and the New Narcissism
-
-
28 Jan 08
-
17 Dec 07
-
13 Dec 07
-
Virtual Friendship and the New Narcissism
-
-
06 Dec 07
-
30 Oct 07
-
According to a survey recently conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, more than half of all Americans between the ages of twelve and seventeen use some online social networking site. Indeed, media coverage of social networking sites usually describes them as vast teenage playgrounds—or wastelands, depending on one’s perspective. Central to this narrative is a nearly unbridgeable generational divide, with tech-savvy youngsters redefining friendship while their doddering elders look on with bafflement and increasing anxiety. This seems anecdotally correct; I can’t count how many times I have mentioned social networking websites to someone over the age of forty and received the reply, “Oh yes, I’ve heard about that MyFace! All the kids are doing that these days. Very interesting!”
Numerous articles have chronicled adults’ attempts to navigate the world of social networking, such as the recent New York Times essay in which columnist Michelle Slatalla described the incredible embarrassment she caused her teenage daughter when she joined Facebook: “everyone in the whole world thinks its super creepy when adults have facebooks,” her daughter instant-messaged her. “unfriend paige right now. im serious.... i will be soo mad if you dont unfriend paige right now. actually.” In fact, social networking sites are not only for the young. More than half of the visitors to MySpace claim to be over the age of 35. And now that the first generation of college Facebook users have graduated, and the site is open to all, more than half of Facebook users are no longer students. What’s more, the proliferation of niche social networking sites, including those aimed at adults, suggests that it is not only teenagers who will nurture relationships in virtual space for the foreseeable future.
-
The danger posed by strangers who use social networking sites to prey on children is real; there have been several such cases. This danger was highlighted in July 2007 when MySpace booted from its system 29,000 sex offenders who had signed up for memberships using their real names. There is no way of knowing how many sex offenders have MySpace accounts registered under fake names.
-
-
25 Oct 07
-
19 Oct 07
-
15 Oct 07
-
14 Oct 07
-
10 Oct 07
-
09 Oct 07
-
courtenaybirdinteresting article, possibly for my study
-
08 Oct 07
-
04 Oct 07
cshirkythe curious use of the word networking to describe this new form of human interaction. Social networking websites “connect” users with a network—literally, a computer network. But the verb has long been used to describe intentional social connecting
-
02 Oct 07
-
Adam Crowe"Since there are only a few archetypes, ideals, or icons to strive for... it is an overwhelmingly dull sea of monotonous uniqueness, of conventional individuality, of distinctive sameness.. idiosyncrasies stand out better than grandeur in this new domain"
* socialnetworking behaviours identity weakties communities curation extensionsofman skin immunesystem archetypes personality roleplay augmentationistsvsimmersionists attention solipsism self selfservers portraits psychology emotionalintelligence literary
-
01 Oct 07
-
“Since there are only a few archetypes, ideals, or icons to strive for in comparison to the vastness of instances of everything online, quirks and idiosyncrasies stand out better than grandeur in this new domain.
-
Indeed, this is one of the characteristics of MySpace most striking to anyone who spends a few hours trolling its millions of pages:
-
it is an overwhelmingly dull sea of monotonous uniqueness, of conventional individuality, of distinctive sameness.
-
Yet college students’ reaction to this fact suggests that they have a different understanding of privacy than potential employers: 42 percent thought it was a violation of privacy for employers to peruse their profiles, and “64 percent of students said employers should not consider Facebook profiles during the hiring process.”
-
on the Internet, private misbehavior becomes public exhibitionism.
-
the protean self evinces “mockery and self-mockery, irony, absurdity, and humor
-
nd is death without a witness.” In the world of online social networking, the warning might be simpler: “Life without hundreds of online ‘friends’ is virtual death.” On these sites, friendship is the stated raison d’être. “A place for friends,” is the slogan of MySpace. Facebook is a “social utility that connects people with friends.” Orkut describes itself as “an online community that connects people through a network of trusted friends.” Friendster’s name speaks for itself.
-
But “friendship” in these virtual spaces is thoroughly different from real-world friendship. In its traditional sense, friendship is a relationship which, broadly speaking, involves the sharing of mutual interests, reciprocity, trust, and the revelation of intimate details over time and within specific social (and cultural) contexts. Because friendship depends on mutual revelations that are concealed from the rest of the world, it can only flourish within the boundaries of privacy; the idea of public friendship is an oxymoron.
-
The impulse to collect as many “friends” as possible on a MySpace page is not an expression of the human need for companionship, but of a different need no less profound and pressing: the need for status.
-
But status-seeking has an ever-present partner: anxiety.
-
There is a sense of, ‘if I’m not online or constantly texting or posting, then I’m missing something,’” he said of his students. “This is where I find the generational impact the greatest—not the use of the technology, but the overuse of the technology.”
-
The implications of the narcissistic and exhibitionistic tendencies of social networkers also cry out for further consideration. There are opportunity costs when we spend so much time carefully grooming ourselves online. Given how much time we already devote to entertaining ourselves with technology, it is at least worth asking if the time we spend on social networking sites is well spent. In investing so much energy into improving how we present ourselves online, are we missing chances to genuinely improve ourselves?
-
These virtual networks greatly expand our opportunities to meet others, but they might also result in our valuing less the capacity for genuine connection.
-
Real intimacy requires risk—the risk of disapproval, of heartache, of being thought a fool. Social networking websites may make relationships more reliable, but whether those relationships can be humanly satisfying remains to be seen.
-
-
30 Sep 07
-
29 Sep 07
-
Sue MaberryDoes this technology, with its constant demands to collect (friends and status), and perform (by marketing ourselves), in some ways undermine our ability to attain what it promises—a surer sense of who we are and where we belong?
-
28 Sep 07
-
Alan LevineDoes this technology, with its constant demands to collect (friends and status), and perform (by marketing ourselves), in some ways undermine our ability to attain what it promises—a surer sense of who we are and where we belong?
facebook identity myspace network socialnetworking hznmc hz08 cogdogroo
-
27 Sep 07
Sharon Broganfound at http://www.frizzylogic.org/fl/2007/09/25/links-for-2007-09-25/
-
26 Sep 07
Joe ShowkerA thought provoking view of the digital world we live in
-
Jill ONeillDon't agree with it fully, but it is an interesting article
-
M C MorganA consideration of Facebook et al as self-portraiture, and the influence of social network spaces on culture
en3177 erhetoric Facebook journal author2.0 authorship authenticity
-
25 Sep 07
-
Paul BarnesOverview of Facebook, Bebo, MySpace etc and how social networking sites are changing the way we interact.
-
24 Sep 07
Would you like to comment?
Join Diigo for a free account, or sign in if you are already a member.