by David Adelman

Created on: May 18, 2009

Facebook Interview

Facebook has become the latest fad worldwide, connecting people all over the globe. What began as a phenomenon for students has spread to adults and children of all ages, making Facebook a vast cyber-culture in itself. Facebook has created a whole new method for people to judge each other without even meeting each other face to face. Facebook has created a whole new method of voyeurism and easy access for communication. This essay will examine Daniel S. Holder's ethnographic study of the "Effects of Facebook.com on Interpersonal relationships" as well as the document called "Profile as Conservation: Ethnography of Communication on Facebook". I will interview a friend of mine, a man who is very interested in the social dynamics of Facebook and how someone can tell someone else's popularity or social status on Facebook. By conducting this interview, I will validate the current anthropological study of Facebook as well as add my own contribution to the study to better understand the Facebook phenomenon and why so many people of all ages are using it.

Both documents look at the phenomenon of Facebook as a new era of for ambiguous conversation, changing from interpersonal cues and gestures being observed in person, to pictures and other methods on a screen. Facebook has become famous among college students and has become part of their daily habits as a topic of conversation. Conversations on Facebook are uncomfortable because of the lack of personal connection with the audience, in which "digital' adaptations are created as cues for the Facebook user.(Holder, 2006 p.41) Users can regulate how public or private their profiles can be. Many people enjoy taking their profiles as a joke and write witty and absurd statements for their religious or political views or about how friends met one another. By doing this many people avoid the "social awareness" of having to declare their social and relationship statuses. (Holder, 2006 p.42) Facebook has redefined the meaning of friend. Two people who do not know each other can become friends without meeting- just by clicking "accept". Since anybody can establish friendship with any stranger, the definition of what a real friend means on Facebook is disoriented. Many people just accept people as friends, so as not to be rude and create pretentiousness; however, they will not respond to that person when messaged. Groups of friends usually remained localized. Unlike in

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