fb

Hi again

My friends are going to a party tonight but I'm stuck in Costa Rica. Bummer.

And I'm going to write a response to the article in the chronicle about facebook. http://chronicle.com/article/Faux-Friendship/49308/ thanks to liz rywelski for posting it on fb and to my neighbor, a sociologist professor, writing on social networking, at the artist colony for encouraging me to respond... well here goes.

Social networking. Blogging. Vlogging. Twittering. I never really thought I'd stop using myspace, and then one day I started using facebook and thought it was way more fun. To be honest, and we all love a little honesty right?, well it was a dude that caught my attention and then I started going on there more. Next thing I knew I was posting updates way more frequently. That's what made it fun. And then my friend Ashley left me a comment welcome to crackbook and I knew iI was home. And it was fun seeing what everyone was up to. And then my whole MFA school was already on there and many more joining quickly. It became a great way to stay in touch. Now I have a friends' list dedicated to them. I like that. Wish more of them used it more often.

Which brings me to my next point. The mundane everyday is great. And if I don't care for your everyday, because honestly a fuck load of the highschool people came out of the wood work too not long after the MFA peeps, and really I have trouble remembering who some of them are even with the photos. I never thought that would happen. Some I remember and wish I could say I don't on the other hand. Probably it's the good ones I forgot. So I let them in. My point is if I don't like your updates I can just hide your ass from my viewing.

I used to worry that I posted too much, once a day, sometimes twice, sometimes once a week, whatever, and then as I friended more people my updates would change. Often, I wish I could complain but decided from the beginning that that wouldn't be useful, back in the myspace days.
Early in my fb days I noticed a professor and a staff member from my MFA program deleted me and that worried me. Had I made an annoying update? Don't they like me? But everyone is different in how they want to use fb. I had thought it would be a more intimate space than myspace initially with just my close friends. But then people kept requesting and I kept saying yes and now I too am up to 500 + friends. It was too difficult to draw lines to say you are in and you aren't. It wasn't clear. So I just let everyone who I've met and the occassional random seemingly trustworthy networky type of stranger come into my world, whereas two of my closest friends keep their fb connections small and close and never accept friend requests from newly met contacts. It definitely has affected what I say on there but probably for the best.

What I really like is when friends I introduced comment on each others' status updates. I know the connection is made and potentially will continue. That makes me happy!

I feel like I'm defending my use and possible attachment to fb. I've even attended conferences that focused on it. It's made its way into media theory. Of course. Phds are being written right now. and in depth research by professors no doubt.

But like my mom always said, be wary of what you put in writing, it's permanent (which btw is why i used to really hate emailing friends like 12 years ago. feared where they would land. my friend was like i noticed you don't like email. and i had to explain. well that all changed once a boy started flirting with me. then i was all game and felt all that anxiety of what will the next witty response be. will it go in that direction i want... )

finally, my main objection to that article was that the updates and the postings or whatever are not just blips, they are thoughts that then become words and behind those words are meaning. i feel that i get to stay in touch rather than not hear from someone at all and let the connection fade away.

my theory is that there is only a small percentage of actual active users of the people on there, so it doesn't matter what gets posted if it annoys someone. if you are on there then you want to know what's going on your friends' lives. and it provides stimulation during the day when you might not be otherwise connected to people because of work etc. i read a really website (wish i remember where it was) in supprt of the new work method where work and play and internet were integrated and mutually beneficial. moreover, as an artist, we often work in isolation and sites like fb offer an alternative to that while continuing to make work.

regarding wall posts, i agree that the responses may not be a conversation between each of the posters. however they are a conversation with me. and it's my post. and i appreciate the responses. moreover sometimes they are in conversation and that's even better.

oh gosh i'm tired and my rules for blogging are do it that day and be done. nothing highly edited. trusting in my stream of conscious, of the typing for new complete ideas to emerge. process is everything. and i have one more thought to offer, and that is, in response to the article, that the stream of conscious, is it so bad that we are grouping together? can we not learn from communities that work as a group and adapt this in our busy lives which often are isolating and competitive? sometimes i think it is great to work collectively and be less individualistic and believe that we have a lot to learn from other cultures in this regard. how often do i see a few posts from unconnected friends with similar words or ideas. it's amazing. it's exciting to see that manifested, collective conscious, even if it is on fb.

probably i am not finished with this topic and expect to see an art show about it in the next year.

good night. off to read something by althusser on ideology.