To the Window, To the Wall

The Facebook Wall Post---

  

Extend/Enhance 

•    Enables you to communicate with friends/family all over the world - family in the Philippines who haven’t heard from you in years will be so excited to hear from you

• A more convenient way to contact people – sometimes people don’t have phones so the best way to keep in touch is through online social networks, such as Facebook

• You don’t have to pay for this service - its free compared to text messaging

• Able to reach a person in a matter of seconds – Once you leave a wall post a notification is sent to the person you are trying to reach and that person will be able to check the post that was just left “a few seconds ago"

• Get your immediate thoughts and feelings out – It’s just one click away

• Long distance relationships – enhance your relationship with the person you met online by leaving each other gross lovey dovey messages on each other’s wall.

• Informative and entertaining – share a story, state a face, or tell a joke

Reverse

• If one of the topics on a wall post is somewhat private, then friends on Facebook are able to read the entire conversation - now everyone knows about so and so and such and such and now the private conversation is not so private anymore

• Gossip on wall posts spread faster than STD’s – self explanatory

• Excessive wall posts can be irrelevant and annoying  - YouTube videos, Application Notifications such as FarmVille can be overwhelming when reviewing your daily newsfeed 

Retrieval

• Text message-->E-mails-->Postcards-->Letters

Obsolesce

• Communicating through phone calls

• Sending an E-Mail

• Text messaging on your cell phone

•  Myspace

OMG, Angry Buff Guy On Facebook!?

“We must now know in advance the consequences of any policy or action, since the results are experienced without delay.” – Marshall McLuhan

Have you ever posted something on Facebook (a status update or a comment on a friend’s wall) and a few minutes later, maybe even a couple seconds later, found out that what you posted turned out to be really offensive to someone you do or don’t know? You regret typing up that post because of all the drama you caused. Now tension has built up between you two and when you actually see the person face to face everything is just AWKWARD.  You don’t talk about it in real life because the drama happened in cyber world. As a result you end up deleting the post pretending that nothing ever happened and you go on with your life hoping all is well and forgotten. On the inside you are super embarrassed and things are still awkward.

Example status:  Ivan -“You know what I hate? Buff guys that aren’t athletic…. Hate that shiiiieeet!” 5 mins ago
Example comments:  Joy – “hey don’t talk about my brother like that!” 5 minutes ago
Ray – “woooow foreal? thanks a lot bro” 4 minutes ago
Ivan – “okay Joy and Ray,
let me change my status to…
i dislike people who make assumptions right off the bat.. first off ray..i wasnt talking about you... damn guys foreeal?!!” 3 minutes ago
Ray- “Cool Ivan.” 1 minute ago
Ivan: “Real mature man..seriously..i havent even seen you guys in awhile..why would that give me a reason to talk mess about you..” 1 minute ago
Ray- “Whatever bro.” a few seconds ago

Sometimes the things you post online can be really offensive to others even though you think that it’s completely harmless. In this case, Ivan (skinny but athletic) posted his envious thoughts on his status, Joy (nosey) saw the post on her news feed and instigated by commenting on his wall post, and Ray (not athletic but buff) read Ivan’s post and was immediately offended. Just like what Marshall McLuhan stated in the quote above, we need to know ahead of time what our actions can lead to especially since mostly everything on Facebook is public and people can see its contents in a matter of seconds.