Ethnography of SNS Facebook

SNS ethnography of facebook

       According to Wikipedia, an ethnography, such as the one we were assigned to do, which is an online study on an SNS was for a time called a netnography and more recently, a webnography.  Wikipedia contends that there are several distinctions between a study done on an online culture and on an actual one, which includes; the physical aspect, whether the communication is recorded and archived, and whether it’s public or private.  There are also choices as to how a culture is studied. Essentially it will either be as an observer or a participant. An observer witnesses from the outside looking in.  A participant, which is how we were told to proceed, sees the authentic and experiences it.  

       I signed up for a couple of new Social Network Sites  to see if I could find one I wanted to study. First, I signed up for Twitter, which I still have and continue to communicate in. This site is very limited in applications which make it much easier to navigate. It is very limiting in what you can post because you have very few characters available in each posting. This keeps it simple and that is a plus for many people who need to access from phones and so forth.  Secondly, I signed up in Classroom 2.0 and  plan continue to communicate in it. This site has much more to offer and is an educator based SNS. I plan to continue and add to this SNS because it has so much more to offer me as a teacher. I plan to create a wiki in that site for my students to use next year.  It has an abundance of resources for educators.   I had membership in Face book which I initially signed up for in spring of 2007 because I was looking for my Mexican statue, Pablo, last year who was kidnapped by seniors. I had an anonymous tip to look for him on Face book so I did. I didn’t find him there at the time however, he miraculously appeared on the stage in cap and gown on graduation day.  

        Meanwhile, I didn’t delete my account but I didn’t actively seek out anyone to add to my friends list in the SNS either. However, every so often I would receive an email notification that someone had added me to their list. It was usually a student or former student who had graduated and wanted to communicate. I always “confirmed” which is what you do to allow people to be added to your list. This was a bit uncomfortable for me because I had heard so much negativity surrounding SNSs that I feared my district would send a reprimand. I had one condition that I set for myself concerning my students and former students. I always communicated in Spanish with them. I assumed if they wanted to communicate with me that they would translate and some of them actually did and replied in the target language. I thought it was awesome! I now have 78 friends with the majority of them being students and former students.

       When we began to discuss SNSs in class I had a slight knowledge about them. I had never actively added any applications in Facebook even though I had numerous invitations from many of my students and several peers from MSU.

            Face Book was founded in February 2004 by Mark Zucherberg, as a social network called thefacebook.com to help people communicate. It was first intended exclusively for Harvard students but in May of 2005 it expanded to add 800 college networks and by August of 2005 it changed to Facebook.  Changes began to occur quickly and by September 2005 it added high school networks then one year later in September, 2006 anyone was allowed to join. As a result, it is presently used by teens and adults of all ages. Just one year ago in April 2007 there were 20 million active users. However today it boasts 70 million users of which more than half are outside of college. This SNS is growing by leaps and bounds.  According to Face book statistics, it is the 6^th most-trafficked website in the world and the second most-trafficked social media site in the world.

          Facebook has many different applications that members may add to their profiles. The applications members add usually vary according to their personality, work, interests, friends, and purpose for their presence in the SNS.  This is one way people find those they know and subsequently add them to their friend list. In order to be added to someone’s list, one must be accepted by that person. If someone requests to be on your list and you don’t want them you may block them. They will not have access to any of your information. Some of the applications are part of the Face book platform however, some are not.  Those don’t pose much of a threat for identity theft however; there are many applications that are not part of the Face book platform that may pose a risk. I mentioned it in my last post. It seems that there is a flaw in the face book platform that allows those who create some of the applications for Face book to be able to track our paths and have access to our information. The applications are numerous and diverse in topics. As a member you have the opportunity to create an application and post it. I have seen several in Spanish but decided against joining them. They seem to take over the profile page. I have gained many friends in the year that I have been on this SNS the majority being my students and former students. Facebook is an international SNS and has many features which include a Translation application to 21 languages last month. Another new application added in April of this year was Facebook chat, which is very user friendly. At the bottom of the screen there is a tab to that updates as needed to allow you to see your online friends and to allow you to initiate a chat with anyone of them.  

       There is an application for classified listings, several virtual gift shops, and numerous others.  I notice the bumper sticker application used quite a bit with my students. This allows them to make a statement.  The photo album application is probably one of the most utilized. Most of my students have many photo albums and they hold countless photos. A feature that I see used quite often is tag a photo. This allows you to say something about a photo to the person who posted it. I could go on for days with all the applications there are.

          I posted a question on my profile page status for anyone who read it to post an answer on my wall. It asked what they used Facebook for. I had several answers to the question but I didn’t think I had enough so I also printed a short survey and had my students fill it out. I told them they did not have to write their name on it but to be honest in why they used it. Those who didn’t know I had a profile there were surprised to find out that I had one. They quickly exclaimed that they were going to add me.  I just smiled. I insisted I was only using it for my ethnography and they wanted to know what that was. I quickly explained that it was a culture study of the network.  

             What I gather from the survey is that most high school students use it to keep in touch with friends who they see and especially those they don’t get to see on a daily basis. Some of my former students who now attend college say they use it to stay in touch with those who attend different colleges and those from home when they are away at school. I myself love hearing from my former students. They use it for social purposes. A few of the males said they get on there to meet hot girls but most of them said to communicate with their friends. Most of them had both Facebook and Myspace. Very few had only one of the sites. The people that answered my question mainly use it to communicate or see what others are doing. One teacher specifically mentioned that some of her students who are typically shy open up and talk to her in this site and that some of them had issues they needed to discuss. This may not have happened had they not felt the chance of a moment of privacy in the SNS.

       Still others are there for communicating with those who have similar interests such as podcasters or authors. Some come in for business ventures of one type or another, in fact, one of my “friends” was there to see how others used the site just as I was and also to promote his book. These cultures seem to attract people who have similar interests and who would in actuality, hang out at the same places, just as they do virtually. It seems that online cultures are very much like actually being there in person only there are many more people we can hang out with when we don’t have to travel to get there.

      In Facebook there are settings you can adjust to make your profile private and not allow anyone to see who writes on your wall. Most of the things that take place are public and for the world to see however, you can change your settings to make your actions or even your existence private.  

         This was an enlightening experience for me. I had not taken the time to really explore this site and others like it due to time issues however since it was an assignment I made the time and benefited greatly. I now know so much more about communicating while using these sites. I feel that with all the safety precautions SNSs have put into place (40 safeguards), to protect young users from sexual predators and cyberbullies it should be safe for youngsters however, parents should always exercise parental controls.  It should be a fun place to hang out with friends and enjoy the communication and interaction. When I was growing up we hung out at the park and skating rink. In this day and age SNSs are where teens as well as others hang out.

By the way Señor Lowell, I have tagged my blog postings for this ethnography as sns or sns facebook.  Gracias y hasta pronto.