Facebook - The Virtual World
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By its definition, the French word flâneur is someone who wanders around observing things. Much like a traditional flâneur in the real world, one can wholly assume this role in the online world just as easily, if not easier. There are a great many examples of being able to anonymously assume roles online, but also places where it’s not so easy; like Facebook, where you are required to register as a name (though you may not enter your correct name) as well as with a corresponding e-mail address to make an account and use the website. Much less strict are websites like YouTube; you can use the website’s main function (watching videos) just fine without having to log on, or register an account, but you cannot subscribe to channels or comment. “Each map has its own point of view” (Wood, 2006).
In the case of staying anonymous just to read and watch content, that is called ‘lurking’. It is not uncommon for web users to ‘lurk’, not necessarily for devious means, but just because they wish to stay anonymous or simply see no point in registering to that particular site.
So given that Facebook has a relatively low threshold for anonymity, and a high activity rate, you could argue that people who use Facebook, but rarely post or proactively use the website experience their world differently to those who do comment and post. Why? If you comment on something and someone else comments as well, you receive a notification, if you do not to this, you will not receive that notification; you could miss out on further interaction with your peers and their conversation. That is not to you are not sociable, you just might not be interested in that particular situation. Without engaging in that conversation, you might miss out on valuable information which could be used in conversation at a later point ‘they help us to conceptualise our world’ (Kuttainen, 2015), resulting in you maybe being left ‘out of the loop’ in that instance.
References
Kuttainen, V. (2015). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, Narratives, and the Making of Place, Lecture 4: Mapping. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au
Wood, D., Kaiser, W. L., & Abramms B. (2006). Seeing Through Maps: Many Ways To See The World. Oxford, Great Britain: New Internationalist.
In the case of staying anonymous just to read and watch content, that is called ‘lurking’. It is not uncommon for web users to ‘lurk’, not necessarily for devious means, but just because they wish to stay anonymous or simply see no point in registering to that particular site.
So given that Facebook has a relatively low threshold for anonymity, and a high activity rate, you could argue that people who use Facebook, but rarely post or proactively use the website experience their world differently to those who do comment and post. Why? If you comment on something and someone else comments as well, you receive a notification, if you do not to this, you will not receive that notification; you could miss out on further interaction with your peers and their conversation. That is not to you are not sociable, you just might not be interested in that particular situation. Without engaging in that conversation, you might miss out on valuable information which could be used in conversation at a later point ‘they help us to conceptualise our world’ (Kuttainen, 2015), resulting in you maybe being left ‘out of the loop’ in that instance.
References
Kuttainen, V. (2015). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, Narratives, and the Making of Place, Lecture 4: Mapping. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au
Wood, D., Kaiser, W. L., & Abramms B. (2006). Seeing Through Maps: Many Ways To See The World. Oxford, Great Britain: New Internationalist.
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