I'm reading through the Boyd right now and the whole strong/weak tie thing is making more sense. I don't know what you guys want to discuss. Something that caught my eye was the fact that MySpace profiles can be "hacked" in a sense - the engine interprets HTML and CSS manually entered by the user, whereas Facebook cannot - it's much more strict. This provides room for those two different types of people - those who can code and those who cannot (although anyone can write HTML). I enjoyed her connecting the cluttered "pimped out" profiles to a teenagers messy room - MySpace profiles are usually terrible looking.
I was interested in the "hacking" idea, too, especially in the context of "writing identity."
Last week Marissa posted this quote from Snow Crash:
"Did you win your sword fight?"
"Of course I won the fucking sword fight," Hiro says. "I'm the greatest sword fighter in the world."
"And you wrote the software."
"Yeah. That, too," Hiro says.
For the privileged code-literate, social networking online gives them new and different social leverage. It's not just a question of the regulated functions that the web site designers create, but the possibility of creating real-life social connections based on online capability. If a guy in your class knows how to put music videos on his MySpace page, but you can't code well enough to do that, then you create some kind of real-life social link (maybe a weak tie?) when you ask him for coding help. That kid is always going to "win the sword fight" online, but he's also going to be able to carry that prestige into the off-line world.
Also, I totally agree: MySpace pages look AWFUL.
My Myspace page is (or was at times if it isn't now) actually pretty classy, in my opinion (www.myspace.com/crowjonah) even though I have long since stopped caring about it.
The hacking is interesting, and in a way facebook has made the true elitism of the hacker class much more distinct, because whereas in Myspace anyone can use a Profile Pimper or Generator or whatever because of the susceptibility of the system, facebook began by effectively disallowing any kind of unconventional customization, but has since opened it up to the 3rd party developments of Apps, which requires true coding knowledge, but is still limited in the extent to which it can modify a profile. For a while it was a neat trick to be able to embed a video clip into a Myspace comment, but YouTube has made that skill obsolete. Photobucket and Flickr provide instant copy-pastable code for images, and statcounter.com will take all the effort out of tracking your visitors by giving you IP and geographical information through the functionality of a few lines of computer generated code and instructions on where to put it in your profile.
And none of these things fly on facebook.
Facebook also doesn't have the musical draw that Boyd found so crucial to Myspace.
Facebook has fallen just short of fully mapping out ties (imagine www.theyrule.net with your own friends) with the Mutual Friends section, etc.
Writing identity is also interesting and makes me think, again, of the difference between facebook and Myspace. I have friends who use both, I have used both at different times in my life, and I have found that by allowing the (almost) total customization of the profile, Myspace allows a person to 'write' their identity much more in accordance with how they want themselves to be seen. While it may be argued that it is impossible to write a 'real life' identity on a website at all, facebook provides a much more accurate mapping of a person due to the tendencies towards a more objective, multi-perspective, self-checking, free-flow of information. On Myspace I can upload 4 flattering pictures of myself, but on Facebook my friends can tag me in hundreds of more truthful portraits. The Wall-to-Wall works in a similar way.
The ability of the sword fighter to carry his prestige into the real world lies entirely in the real world's willingness to accept the validity of the online world. What happens for the disenfranchised and conscientious objectors, and the people who don't participate "because its stupid"? I know they may be in the minority, but I also still know plenty of people that I respect and admire that hold these positions. This seems to connect to the infection of workers that Granovetter spoke of, in that in order for something to gain social momentum it must be picked up by the central, more well-connected members in order to spread. But in this case the infection is in the form of a tool for being well-connected. It almost seems tautological.
You're right- the "I think it's stupid" crowd is a totally legitimate group, and I definitely used to be in that category. My parents were never internet savvy enough to know whether or not to be worried, and I just didn't care enough to get involved online. I didn't think it was "stupid," perse -I just didn't give it much thought. Interestingly, my first social networking experience happened when my friend built a LiveJournal page for my 17th birthday, as Boyd noted. Of course I'm whole-heartdly on faceook now (I can code a little in Java, and as Andy pointed out, everyone writes HTML), Andy has a pretty amazing music site, and (against all odds ;oP) you have a very classy MySpace page. I guess this validates Boyd's social networking "field work," but she might misrepresent the interconnectivity of on- and off- line relationships.
I know Boyd focuses on the "youth" and their use of networked publics, but I think another demographic is important to look at, namely adults seeking jobs and businessmen seeking connections. This summer I worked for a small communications firm in the city, and my boss was all about www.linkedin.com, which is a social networking site for small businesses.
The conscientious objector to social networking sites may have a good argument in "because it's stupid". As Nadine points out on page 14 of Boyd, "Taking someone off your Top 8 is your new passive aggressive power play when someone pisses you off." This exhibits the frivolity of facebook/myspace (when used by teens looking to 'fit in'), versus the pure function of a site like linkedin. Granovetter had stated that weak ties will, more often than strong ties, lead to finding a job. The ties forged on any social networking site are weak at best - especially when no real world correspondence has occurred. Furthermore, almost all jobs I've ever applied to have been through an internet form - submit a resume, cover letter, and a referral, and the nameless, faceless employer will get back to you. I guess the 'strength' of weak ties is often overlooked.
The "I"s: Andrew C. Miller, Julia Horwitz, Crow Norlander
No comments:
Post a Comment