Media Ethnography

CH. 6: Media Ethnography

Before the study...Some funny, accurate, and relevant YouTube commentary on Facebook!:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3P4xsRo30v8 ("Facebook in Real Life": poking, adding friends, status)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrlSkU0TFLs (FaceBook In Reality - idiotsofants.com and BBC'sThe Wall: confirming "friendship")

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cEySyEnxvU (Facebook on 60 Minutes 01-13-08 (Part 1)

I chose to observe “behavior”/participation of members on Facebook (FB). As a relative newbie to FB (read: I joined in August of 2008, after vowing never to join!), I never cease to be amazed by the posts/information that is so often made readily available for the world to read (or at least the “friends” of authors, and their “friends,” if permitted). I often times wonder why people post the material they do, and more often wonder why people (myself—now--included) spend time reading it!

I believe that much of what transpires on this social network is the result of peoples’ need to feel a sense of belonging. Whether they officially join a FB group, or simply interact with fellow alums, colleagues, or those with whom they’ve made a connection in one way or another, the FB) members I’ve observed seem to thrive on sharing their lives—or the lives they choose to present—with others. One example of feeling/creating a sense of community was apparent just prior to Barack Obama’s inauguration. The number of people organizing to “experience” it together, online, was phenomenal. Here again is a link to engaging in a “pleasurable, ritual-like experience that connects participants to with larger, mythic, collective dramas (Real, 1996 as cited in Beach, p.57).”

Additionally, through their writing/posts, many FB participants seem to “construct modes of escape, daydreams, social relationships, and alternative identities (Abercrombie & Longhurst, 1998 as cited in Beach, p.55).” Perhaps not knowing what information is true and what is not, is part of the allure created by this online forum. In many of the instances I observed comments that left me wondering whether they were genuine…and/or how long a person had spent thinking them up.

I decided to learn more about what happens on FB by “lurking,” and questioning some members of the FB community about their Facebook practices. While lurking I learned about the activities in which people were engaged (or their “status”) sometimes on an hourly updated basis. These postings tend to be somewhat ordinary, meaning that they aren’t farfetched, and that one could assume that they true (it’s possible) because they seem realistic. Some of the following were listed for participants’ status”:

“I’m going to meet my Little Brother”

(Person’s name) cleaned the garage today and can't believe the level of junk accumulation over the winter

(Person’s name) is listening to (daughter) practice The Entertainer on the piano over and over and over again

(Person’s name) is debating if we should get a puppy or not. We found these really cute shitzapoos in the paper. But, dogs are a lot of work...

Other postings relate to what appear to be inside jokes shared by everyone, but privy to only a few (am I sensing a feeling of being left out?):

(Person’s name) is a true trailblazer in the field of inaccurate brain surgury [sic].

'cats do not provide wool, milk or meat'...

Many postings refer to quizzes/tests that members can take to determine one thing or another about themselves. I believe that this is a popular feature because it provides an arena for the author/poster to be viewed in a light that s/he would like to be viewed, and/or that it gives further dimension to their character.

(Person’s name) took the test which 70s celebrity do you look like. The answer was if Gary Coleman and Eric Estrada had a baby together. Sounds good to me.

(Person’s name) took Which Supreme Court Justice Are You? quiz and the result is Scalia.

(Person’s name) took Who would be your celebrity boyfriend? quiz and the result is Will Smith

(Person’s name) scored 1104 points on the Know-It-All 'Who Sang That 80's Song?' trivia challenge!

And did I mention that it is so easy to get sucked into FB? Things that don’t interest you and people you don’t know, have a way of sinking their teeth into you until so suddenly (after hours, or so) come to the “What am I doing?” realization. So now that I’m back—it’s a shame that I haven’t documented the time spent on hiatus from this post, to view FB “stuff.”

The other way that I decided to investigate members’ uses of FB was by asking questions. I presented the following questionnaire to FB “friends.”

Questionnaire

Please rate your activities on the following scale:

1=often

2=occasionally

3=rarely

4=never

1. I spend more than a half hour a day on Facebook.

2. I use Facebook to update people on my status.

3. I use Facebook to find out what friends are doing.

4. I use Facebook to discuss politics.

5. I use Facebook to keep informed about politics.

6. I use Facebook to keep informed about entertainment.

7. I use Facebook to plan events.

8. I have joined a group/groups on Facebook (ex. Carleton alums).

9. I feel that I spend too much time on Facebook.

10. I feel that it would be ok if I never logged on to Facebook again.

Listed below are the responses, where Q=Question and P=Participant and F=Female M=Male

	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Q5	Q6	Q7	Q8	Q9	Q10
P1=F	2	4	1	4	4	4	4	2	2	1
P2=M	2	2	1	3	4	4	2	2	4	2
P3=F	1	2	1	4	4	4	4	2	2	4
P4=F	2	3	1	4	4	4	2	1	2	2
P5=F	4	2	4	4	2	2	1	3	3	1
P6=M	2	1	1	3	4	4	4	2	3	2

Breaking down the responses question by question:

Q#1: I was not surprised at the time spent on FB. Based on the fact that people are participating in quizzes, finding out who their celebrity mate would be (and other such activities) the time admitted to being spent on FB is not shocking at all.

Q#2: The majority of respondents do use FB, to some degree, to update people on their status. This was not a surprise either. As a lurker, I was privy to what many “friends” were doing—sometimes on an hourly basis, sometimes within a twenty-four time frame.

Q#3: All but one respondent uses FB to find out what friends are doing. Not a surprise. So many people are on so often, how can you not know what they are doing (either directly, or indirectly).

Q#4: If I were to do this survey again, I may have reviewed my questions more closely. For instance, the two respondents who indicate that they use FB—to an extent-- to keep informed on sports, are the only two I would consider to be sports fans (out of all the respondents). So, the responses made sense, in a way. However, I was surprised that the ranking was so high, for those two who are sports fans (considering the many comments and “activities” revolving around events such as the Super Bowl and March Madness).

Q#5: Only one respondent indicated using FB to keep informed of politics. Interesting, again, considering the information (groups, comments, and links) to political items.

Q#6: All but one respondent indicated that they do not use FB to keep informed about issues in entertainment. This appears to be reflective of what I observe while lurking—not much about specific movies, music, television, plays, horse-racing, bowling, darts, clubbing, etc. or other things that one might consider to be entertainment. FB posts appear to be more about “What I’m doing,” than “What’s going on in the world.”

Q#7: 50/50. Half rely on FB for planning events, while the other half of the respondents never do.

Q#8: I was surprised by these responses. When do people have the time? If I were to expand on this study, I would explore the types of groups, the commitment level and activities involved.

Q#9: Interesting when juxtaposed with Q#1. All but one indicated that they spend more than a half hour on FB; however only one says that he never spends too much time on FB. A question to explore would be how much time is “too much.”

Q#10: I was definitely surprised by these responses. I didn’t expect as many respondents to be ready, willing, and able to dispose of FB—or at least to indicate that they often/occasionally feel that it would be ok if they never logged on to FB again. Considering the number who use it to plan events, and who are members of groups, the responses of “1” and “2” were surprising. I wonder if these are the facts (Jack!), or if this question was poorly worded (and therefore misunderstood by the respondents).

In conclusion, FB appears to be more about presenting yourself in ways that you want to be seen, presenting your life in public space, and establishing and maintaining connections with people (your friends and “friends”), rather than as a source for information on various world events (from sports to entertainment to politics). It appears to be an outlet for people to let you know both what and how they are doing.

(Pictures are not posting...any suggestions? Thanks!)