Monday, September 24, 2007
research topic
One of the newest, as well as one of the biggest phenomenons in mass communication seems to have erupted into every home, college, and office in the world. These new forms of mass communication are http://www.myspace.com/ and http://www.facebook.com/. These web pages allow users who create a "profile" which gives them the ability to publicly post a picture of themselves and gives out as much personal information that they choose. Web pages like this are in large demand and have given people a chance to list whom ever they please to their "friends" list. People choose to portray themselves and control their ethos to anyone who wants to look. How do people portray themselves online and how does this affect their everyday lives? I hope to look at the age groups that use these sites, will their sites show the places they live? If so does their economic situation have any pattern to others of the same age with these types of accounts? How do people display themselves? Do people have pictures that might display them in a negative light? These are very simple questions, I hope to put a little more thought into them to create a more in depth paper. I am very open to criticism and suggestions on other directions I could take this paper. thanks!
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6 comments:
I think that you might hae some interesting material if you compared facebook to the heyday of letter writing in America. For instance, did people essentially create their own persona via the postal system? What about mail-order brides? Are we really doing anything new, or are we basically reworking an antiquated system of communication and perception/presentation of self?
I think this is a fascinating topic too! Have you thought at all about the fact that sites such as those go in and out of popularity? I seem to recall hearing that MySpace "wasn't as good as Facebook" anymore.
Do you think these networking sites can be dangerous, and not just in a pedophile-way but perhaps an employer seeing your site and deciding to not hire you way? For instance, in May 2007 I know a student was denied her teaching degree because of a picture and quote she had on her Myspace page. I think it said "drunk pirate" and had a picture of her from a costume party.
It's certainly something to think about!
Are you also going to look at the comments people leave on these pages? I have noticed that when you read someone's "about me" on either myspace of facebook, you get a general idea of a person's character. Then, when you take a look at some comments friends have left, that "general idea" goes out the window.
Awesome Topic!! This topic will be one that I definitely look forward to. Myspace and Facebook is a source for me to keep in contact with many of my friends back at home. I enjoy them both and I check them both everyday. I am just curious whether it is taking over people's lives or not.
I'm not sure if or how it works, but you might consider some sort of survey for FaceBook and/or MySpace users to get some idea how they perceive others in the network.
Remember that the "profile" is the area of identity specifically controlled by each user. Our "identity" as a whole, though, is developed through much more complicated processes, which might include the "friends" list, photos, musical accompaniment, background, etc.
Don't they also have a bunch of "what kind of dog are you?" and similar surveys circulating like mad through FaceBook and MYSpace? What do those say about people?
I like this topic. I am interested no only in how we define ourselves through facebook and myspace, but also how the networks define us. Like Professor Fornes mentioned, there are certain things a user can fill out and you can find out what drink, animal, character, etc. that you are. Do people take those into consideration when describing themselves? Also, are there any supervisions on user? For example, a person can create a group on facebook about anything under the sun; are these monitored to see if anything to be worried about is happening?
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