A vague idea came up to me, possibly a reason why social-networking sites are popular. I'm not sure if I've seen it elsewhere but it's possible, and I have read critiques of social-networks (such as facebook/myspace) in the past, so it could have just taken months to sink in and filter up again.
For me, the internet is different because it is extremely likely you'll meet someone whose view (or map of how to view) the world is so different to your own that it threatens you (or vice-versa). This is different from say walking down the high street and into a pub. You... Well, I, am much less likely to talk to complete strangers face to face, than to try discussing something with a complete stranger on the internet. this thinking coming from reading 'the road less travelled'--> So I think the internet causes people to have either major revisions of how they see the world, or maybe makes them more steadfast in their opinions. And I think it is this latter group who so enjoy social networking sites such as myspace or facebook. This because they control the network, who enters, who is allowed, etc. They can then kick out of their clique any person who rocks the boat. Which ain't nothing different at all.. On 14/1/2009, "marc garrett" <[email protected]> wrote: >With friends like these... > >Tom Hodgkinson >The Guardian. > >With friends like these ... >Facebook has 59 million users - and 2 million new ones join each week. >But you won't catch Tom Hodgkinson volunteering his personal information >- not now that he knows the politics of the people behind the social >networking site. > >The US intelligence community's enthusiasm for hi-tech innovation after >9/11 and the creation of In-Q-Tel, its venture capital fund, in 1999 >were anachronistically linked in the article below. Since 9/11 happened >in 2001 it could not have led to the setting up of In-Q-Tel two years >earlier. > >I despise Facebook. This enormously successful American business >describes itself as "a social utility that connects you with the people >around you". But hang on. Why on God's earth would I need a computer to >connect with the people around me? Why should my relationships be >mediated through the imagination of a bunch of supergeeks in California? >What was wrong with the pub? > >And does Facebook really connect people? Doesn't it rather disconnect >us, since instead of doing something enjoyable such as talking and >eating and dancing and drinking with my friends, I am merely sending >them little ungrammatical notes and amusing photos in cyberspace, while >chained to my desk? A friend of mine recently told me that he had spent >a Saturday night at home alone on Facebook, drinking at his desk. What a >gloomy image. Far from connecting us, Facebook actually isolates us at >our workstations. > >more... >http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=20262118776&h=bhyB-&u=gwpLh > >_______________________________________________ >NetBehaviour mailing list >[email protected] >http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour > _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list [email protected] http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
