Facebook’s aggregated news feed has changed the way people communicate.

23/04/2010 Mandy Burke 32 comments

The way society communicates has changed drastically due to the introduction of social networking sites like Facebook. Facebook has provided society with the infrastructure to expand people’s social circles. It does this by providing people with a place to stay in contact with every person that they have ever met. Facebook’s aggregated newsfeed has enabled members to receive a consolidated update of their social circles’ lives in just a few moments and without being in physical contact with a single person. The consolidated updates have also, in some cases, led to a behavioural pattern of possessing tendencies to self promote experiences through the newsfeed (Buffardi & Campbell, 2008). This increase of communication without any human contact has led to a number of uncomfortable etiquette issues in both the online and offline spaces. These issues include Facebook’s members addressing what is socially acceptable to know about each other when they meet in an offline space or the “real world”. This constant need for communication has led to people feeling as if they need to be able to communicate anywhere and at any anytime and this has seen the rise of the ‘smart phone’ (AIMA, 2009). As part of research for this conference paper, an online survey was distributed through social networking sites starting with my own contacts on Facebook, Twitter and email. There were one hundred and fifty three respondents with the majority of respondents located in Australia. This survey gathered information regarding how people communicate since the introduction of social networking sites. This conference paper will discuss how Facebook’s aggregated newsfeed has drastically changed the way society communicates.

Communication amongst peers, families, governments and companies is an essential part of a society. Communication can occur in many different forms from face-to-face communication, to mobile communication, online communication, voting or polls, or mass communication (Kotler et al., 2009, p.228). The Collins Dictionary defines communication as “to exchange (thoughts) or make known (information or feelings) by speech, writing or other means” (Collins, 2010). Since the introduction of technology such as social networks and mobile phones communication has been amplified and has become ubiquitous. Much of today’s communication is instantaneous with the delivery of messages being transferred almost immediately. Snail mail has been replaced with emails (Mayfield, 2001), telephone calls replaced with text messaging (Buskirk, 2010) and in some instances face-to-face communication has been replaced with social networking sites (Planeswalker, n.d.). Social networking sites have drastically changed the way people expect to communicate with one another, as people no longer wait days, weeks or months to receive news. Communication has become instantaneous and has enabled people to become more connected than ever before.

Social networking sites like Facebook enable a person to maintain an array of friends in an online setting (Boyd, Ellison, 2007; Kagan, 2008). Facebook allows a person to reconnect with people that they have met in an offline environment or start a relationship with a new person or “stranger” that the person has met only online. According to Robin Dunbar, Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology at Oxford University Britain, humans are unable to maintain meaningful relationships with more than one hundred and fifty people at a time (Hill, Dunbar, 2003). But Facebook has allowed individuals to broaden their social circle from just a handful of people that they see on a regular basis to include old school, college, work and travel friends and any other person that is in their social circle. The survey that was conducted as part of research for this paper showed that Facebook was the most regularly used social networking site. Seventy percent of the people surveyed had a social network that consisted of between fifty to four hundred friends. But in a period of twelve months over half of those people had not seen between fifty to two hundred of those friends in an offline environment. Through social networking sites like Facebook, people have started to expand their social circles but in accordance with Robin Dunbar’s research people are finding it difficult to transfer these relationships into the offline world.

Facebook has drastically changed the way people communicate with one another in particular amongst friends. Facebook’s main focus is about connecting people although you can do a number of other activities on the site such as, reuniting with old friends, sharing photos, organising events, status updates, creating fan pages and buying, selling and trading goods (Nielsen, 2010). When new members first join Facebook they are asked “Are your friends already on Facebook?” (Facebook, 2010). The new member is encouraged to search through their existing email contacts and add any people that they are already connected with. Through these connections Facebook also has the capability to ‘suggest friends’ to the member based on whom their friends are friends with. New members can also complete their education details, which will assist them to build and increase the social circle. Although it must be noted that for any connection to take place the other member must reciprocate that they indeed know the person by confirming the friendship. This process of finding friends through email, school and Facebook suggestion will build the new member’s social network, which will enhance the user’s experience by pre-populating their Facebook home page. This concept of having all of your friends located in one place and accessible at any time is new to society. Previously people would have different groups of friends and use different methods of communicating with them. The implication of having all friends located in one place is that other forms of communication such as phone and text are decreasing in usage. There is also a risk that people not joined to Facebook miss out on aspects of their friend’s lives as they are missing things being posted to Facebook’s newsfeed.

Facebook’s home page is an aggregated news feed of the social network’s status updates and profile updates. At the top of the news feed and the top of every profile, users are asked “What’s on your mind?” in which the member writes a short status update which is then collated into the newsfeed (depending on their privacy settings). This function has led to a rise in self-promotion (Buffardi & Campbell, 2008), where members are posting detailed status updates of what they are up to and in some cases updating their status a number of times during the course of the day (Dubow, 2007). Psychologists have linked the idea of self-promotion on Facebook with narcissistic behaviour (Buffardi & Campbell 2008). According to a survey undertaken by youth marketing firm, Ypulse, sixty percent of college students agreed with the statement “People in my generation are using social networking sites for self-promotion, narcissism, and attention seeking” (Grove, 2009). Where members of Facebook increasingly use the site to promote themselves through updating vivid details of their personal lives, using photos to promote experiences or vanity and increasing perceived popularity through friendship numbers (Buffardi, Campbell 2008). The idea of self-promotion has changed the way people communicate as with the assistance of Facebook’s aggregated newsfeed, details of our personal lives can be communicated as a one to many broadcast system.

The aggregated newsfeed performing as a one to many broadcast system has changed the way people communicate with one another. In a few moments, Facebook members can be exposed to a number of daily activities without actually being in physical contact with a single person. ‘Facebook stalking’ has been coined as a term to explain this phenomenon and it has become so common it can now be found in The Urban Dictionary (2010). It defines ‘Facebook stalking’ as “a covert method of investigation using Facebook.com. Good for discovering a wealth of information about people you don’t actually know”. Facebook ‘stalking’ is not always limited to stalking strangers but can also be associated with constantly checking the news feed to ‘stalk’ what friends are up to. Survey results for this conference paper showed that eighty six percent of people surveyed checked their most regularly used social networking site between one and six (or more) times per day. This constant need to check one’s profile and newsfeed reflects on society’s change in the way communication is taking place. Facebook members can experience a feeling of disattachment from society when Facebook is down or inaccessible (Alder, 2009). Members feel a constant need to check in and find out what people are doing, this has become so apparent that social networking has become a pastime or a recreational event (Ridings & Gefen 2004). This constant need to check one’s newsfeed has allowed Facebook to recently overtake Google as the most visited website on the Internet (Arrington, 2010). This does not indicate that members are socialising in their offline environment anymore or any less but it suggests that people are more ‘updated’ when they are communicating with an online friend in the offline world. ‘Facebook stalking’ has led to people knowing a greater amount of information (or strangers in some situations) which has changed the way people communicate with each other in the offline world.

Facebook’s aggregated newsfeed has affected the natural flow of conversations in the offline world. Previously when meeting with a friend or acquaintance the conversation would flow through a number of predictable questions. These questions would assist in gaining an understanding of the activities or the life events the other person had been effected by since the last encounter such as “how have you been?”, “what have you been up to?”, “how is work going?”, “how are the children?”, “how is the wife/husband?” etc. Now, most of these finer details are posted directly on to the newsfeed and the friend is well aware of these events prior to seeing their friend. The survey results for this paper show that respondents know details about their friend’s lives before seeing their friend in person. Now when they see their friend they would discuss what each other had seen on Facebook. But they felt that even though they receive regular news from Facebook’s newsfeed, to be able to receive a more detailed version of events they needed to make one to one contact. A number of etiquette issues have arisen with the introduction of Facebook’s aggregated news feed becoming common in society. It can be an awkward situation when confronted by a person that is on Facebook in the offline/real world, as members are still negotiating how much information is appropriate to divulge without revealing that they have been “stalking” Facebook. The etiquette of discussing offline or in the ‘real world’ what you have learnt through Facebook about a person, is something that is still being experimented with Facebook members. But it seems that if the person is a close friend than it is acceptable to know of the intricate details of their Facebook postings. If it is an acquaintance or a stranger’s profile that has been stalked than it is best to claim no or minimum knowledge of the other person’s life (Dubow, 2007). Facebook has unknowingly changed offline communication amongst friends from an angle of catching up on latest news to more of a conversation about the updates viewed on the newsfeed and the details surrounding these updates (Dubow, 2007). Facebook ‘stalking’ has changed the way people conduct and structure their conversations with friends, this change has also led to a noticeable decrease in traditional forms of communication.

Being constantly updated with friend’s news has also led to a decrease in communication via traditional methods such as snail mail, text messages, phones and emails (‘Social sites eclipse e-mail use’, 2009). According to the conference paper survey, prior to Facebook being a recreational activity, people used text messages or emails as their main method of communication amongst friends. In 2009, reduction of mobile phone use became apparent to the Australian society, in particular Emergency Services, when two young girls were trapped in a drain and decided to update their Facebook status as a replacement to using their mobile phone to contact Emergency Services. Luckily through their newsfeed posting, their social network was able to contact Emergency Services and obtain assistance (‘Trapped girls call for help on Facebook”, 2009). Eighty percent of people surveyed for this conference paper agreed with the question “Do you think the amount of time you call/email your friends has changed since you started participating in social networking sites?”. This dramatic shift in communication has led to telecommunications companies changing the way they structure their mobile phones to ensure they have the capacity to allow for the inclusion of social networking on the move. The implication of this drastic change has led to people not using their phone to communicate through the use of voice calls but using it as a way to communicate through the use of updating their Facebook profile.

The first communication to take place by way of mobile phone in Australia was in 1987 (Yussuf & Brooks 2007). There are now more mobile phones in Australia than there are people (‘Number of mobile phones now exceeds Australia’s population’, 2008). The reduction of communicating via text messages and mobile phones calls has seen a rise of mobile handsets being updated to ‘smart phones’ by Telecommunication companies. Smart phones are not only able to make phone calls and send text messages but they are able to receive emails and access social networking sites through browser access or application access. The phenomenon of the smart phone first started with the introduction of Blackberry and being able to receive emails out of the office (Middleton, Cukier, 2006). Where Blackberry was typically targeted towards the businessman the Iphone (and other similar smart phones) have revolutionalized this communication method by introducing it to the remaining half of society and by including social networking sites. In a survey conducted by the Australian Interactive Media Association (AIMA) eighty five percent of respondents had used their phone to access a social networking site in the last month and forty six percent of responses were checking their social networking sites through their mobile at least once a day (AIMA, 2009). Indicating that there is a genuine rise of people needing to communicate on the move. Due to communication happening at all times through the use of smartphones, it has changed how frequently people communicate with one another and how quickly this news can be posted and spread through their social network.

This conference paper has shown how Facebook’s aggregated newsfeed has drastically changed the way its members communicate. Members have been given the ability to maintain relationships with every single person that they have ever been in contact with. To assist in this new expansion of their social network, Facebook has provided its members with an aggregated newsfeed to ensure members are kept up-to-date with the activities of other members’ lives. Members have actively adopted this new way of communicating and have started posting numerous amounts of times a day regarding their daily activities. Although the etiquette of the newsfeed has led to some uncomfortable experiences in the offline world with the amount of information one should reveal, it has also led to a feeling of being more updated with their friend’s lives. The newsfeed has instilled a feeling of needing to be able to communicate at all times. Which has led to a rise in smart phones, which enable its users to log onto their Facebook pages through online browser access or direct application access. Facebook and its aggregated newsfeed have drastically changed the way society communicates.

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Comments

Written by Mandy about 1 year ago.

Hi Jake,

Thanks for commenting on my paper.

I’m located in Australia and our English language spells organising with an ‘s’. Organising spelt with a “z” is used in the American English language.

I hope you enjoyed my paper.
Thanks
Mandy
Written by Jake about 1 year ago.

Fourth paragraph, 2nd sentence typo. organizing*
Written by Networkconference about 1 year ago.

Networkconference…

[...] something about networkconference[...]…
Written by Facebook and the Unknown | Jpumpkin's Blog about 2 years ago.

[...] I know I am not the only one who feels this way. Click here [...]
Written by esti1 about 2 years ago.

Hi Mandy,

What a fascinating read!

You address some really powerful issues here, in particular the interaction between the online and offline spaces that is created by Facebook’s aggregated newsfeed. I like it how you point out the pros and cons, how on one hand it enables us to stay updated on our friends’ lives, and how on the other end it can lead to awkward encounters.

I have to agree with you that Facebook and its aggregated newsfeed has really altered the way in which we all communicate. Indeed, it is society’s obsession with the social networking sites, such as Facebook, that led me to conclude, in my own paper, that social networks can be used as effective marketing tools. There I argue that “social network marketing just makes sense, considering the popularity of social networking sites today”, and provide proof of popularity, such as comScore Media Metrix’s (2006) finding that every second Internet user in the US has visited at least one high ranking social networking site (Waks 2010, 1).

In my paper I suggest that perhaps the popularity of social networking sites may be attributed to their ability to actually segregate target markets (Waks 2010). After reading your paper, I would add that the popularity of social networking sites may also be attributed to characteristics such as the Facebook aggregated newsfeed, which, as you so eloquently argue “has instilled a feeling of needing to be able to communicate at all times”. Companies can take advantage of this feeling by promoting their cause through social networking sites, making these sites excellent marketing tools.

Reference:
Waks, E. (2010). Social Networks Are Effective Marketing Tools. Retrieved May 16th 2010 from http://networkconference.netstudies.org/2010/04/social-networks-marketing-tools/
Written by Mandy Burke about 2 years ago.

Hi Ran,

Thanks for reading my paper.

I have over 100 friends in my social network and I don’t communicate with all of them. I do find it nice to know what an old school friend is up to, but I wouldn’t hunt down the information but it is nice when it appears on my newsfeed. I treat my Facebook account as a place where every person I have ever met is there, they aren’t good friends but more people “I know”. My quality of friendship with people in my Facebook Social network would be considered as low. But I don’t treat them as friends, I treat them as people I know. My good friends I see offline and communicate with them that way or send them private messages, I don’t necessarily want the whole world to see my personal messages to my friends.

I’m not sure if other people see there Facebook friends this way but I don’t really see the point in just having my good friends on Facebook. I see them all the time anyway! It is nice to have my extended network online and my real friends offline.

Thanks
Mandy
Written by Ran. A about 2 years ago.

Hi Mandy:
I agree with the point you made in your paper is same as mine. I am not the big fan with using Facebook, but I enjoyed reading your paper. Some parts are very interesting. The Social Network sites and the Facebook’s aggregated newsfeed indeed dramatically changed the way of communication in the society. I just surprised how the online users could possess of more than 100 friends. I have never had this type of experiences. Do you think they are able to communicate with so many people online? What do think the quality of friendship on Facebook?
Written by MilanaK about 2 years ago.

Hi Mandy

I, to some point agree with your view. I agree that social networking sites have improved socialising capabilities, even if it only gave you another form of communicating. I also agree that it expends people’s social circles. The problem that I see with it though, is that people are not necessarily using Facebook, or other social networking sites, for the purpose of communication. In my paper I have discussed motivation behind the use of social networking sites.

However, this is not the only reason people use social networking sites, in this case Facebook. An online student survey, on possible motivations why people use Facebook, was done in North Carolina and reported in Bumgarner’s (2007) article with following results:

* Voyeurism – people can use profiles of various users to find other people to relate to, gain knowledge about others, and boost self-esteem by deriding others.
* Exhibitionism – a need to express identity, the need to validate their social viability and the need to disclose personal information in order to develop a relationship.
* Social activity – users look at people’s photos, read their profiles with their friends and talk about them and show friends who someone else is. Basically, Facebook serves as a primary facilitation for gossip.
* Serves as a directory of friend’s contact information eliminating the need for address books.
* Initiates relationships – users can meet new people.
* Entertainment – read and write on people’s profiles and look at their photos
* Collect, organise and feel connected to friends.
* While a possible motivation, having Facebook account because someone else does was not a primary motivation for why people use Facebook.

I understand that all of these are part of communicating, but I’m not sure that’s what you were specifically referring to.

I do agree with your statement that in some cases face to face communication has been replaced with online socialising. I find this very disturbing and have based my paper specifically to this topic. I believe you already read it, so I won’t go into too much detail.

Very interesting paper. Apart from all the contradictory views I’ve pointed out, I do appreciate Facebook to some extent as I’m able to communicate long distance and catch up with those people I can’t see.

Milana
Written by Hans about 2 years ago.

Hi Mandy,
I thought that was the reason and when I reread your paper I see it clearly.

As a Facebook user I do appreciate the newsfeed. It simplifies the process of catching up with every bit of news. My friends list only consist of people that I know and share interests with. I do have several very close friends on facebook, but in the main I use it to stay connected with interstate and overseas friends and family. Friendship like marriage needs to be worked at , so by necessity the number of true friends you can have is limited.

There was another thing I meant to raise this morning. You talked about Facebook stalking. I wrote in another comment that I had never considered that aspect. Taraeta wrote back:” Hans, I wouldn’t consider it legally stalking more like standing too close to someone at the water cooler and eavesdropping.” (http://networkconference.netstudies.org/2010/04/size-is-important-is-there-an-optimal-size-for-online-communities/comment-page-1/#comment-2149)

And this is something I remember Clay Shirky talking about in a video blog. I believe they were discussing privacy and how just because it was on facebook it did not mean that it should be further disseminated. He likened it to information you might overhear between friends in a park, this information is private between friends and not to be dispersed willy nilly into the public domain. I cannot locate the link at the moment.

But this digresses from the topic of you paper.
Written by Mandy Burke about 2 years ago.

Hi Paula,

Thanks for taking the time to comment on my paper. Good luck with your travels!

Mandy
Written by Mandy Burke about 2 years ago.

Hi Hans,

You are correct in assuming that it was because of the greater number of people in the social network. What you are saying is right about how people may not want to include their Facebook friends in an offline environment. I think that is the exact point I was trying to make though, although people have these large social circles online, even if they wanted to they don’t have the ability to transfer them into the offline environment because in accordance with Dunbar’s work a person is unable to have a meaningful relationship with more than 150 people.

Thanks for reading my paper and I will read Christopher’s articles as well. Thanks for sharing.

Mandy
Written by Hans about 2 years ago.

Hi Mandy,
My paper at Size is Important: Is there an optimal size for online communities? (http://networkconference.netstudies.org/2010/04/size-is-important-is-there-an-optimal-size-for-online-communities/). Discusses in a bit more detail the theory behind Robin Dunbar’s work.

I am not sure why you would say that ‘in accordance with Robin Dunbar’s research people are finding it difficult to transfer these relationships into the offline world.” Is it just because of the sheer numbers? I would suggest that individuals would not necessarily want to have every facebook contact as an off-line relationship.
Christopher Allen in his reply to my paper referred to a series articles he had written titled Community by the numbers. (http://www.lifewithalacrity.com/2008/11/personal-circles.html) where he discussed an individual’s personal limits. In my view this expands on Dunbar’s research.
Meaningful relationships need to be fostered and this usually means some form of regular physical contact. Social media contact by itself is not sufficient.
Written by PaulaB about 2 years ago.

Hi Mandy,

Your reply to my comment on Conference home page was:
“My paper discusses how “Facebook’s aggregated newsfeed has changed the way people communicate” and it raises some of the topics that you mention above”

I followed your URL to read your paper. It is very interesting research you done Mandy. It is quite extensive topic and so much to analyse.

If you don’t mind I pick up one of your lines in your paper that I will respond to:

“Through social networking sites like Facebook, people have started to expand their social circles but in accordance with Robin Dunbar’s research people are finding it difficult to transfer these relationships into the offline world”

I agree the Facebook is an excellent communication venue for expanding social circle. It may be just casual chat communication, more personal or intimate one. I suppose once it will become more personal (exposing oneself) it may be difficult when trasfering it into offline world that person may feel embarrased or self conscious facing the person that knows his/her personal issues. What I am getting at is that some communication is just for online not for offline. There is so much into this subject as you probably know from psychological and social perspective.

All the best with your assignments and studies. I am now in Belgium and tomorrow heading towards Netherlands – but must remember to finish my Assigment 2.
Cheers
Paula
Written by alan_beazley about 2 years ago.

Hello Mandy,
A very solid paper. I understand the attraction to centralise your communication updates and digital content within a SNS like Facebook so it can be viewed by potentially anybody within your extended social circle. Logically it would save time as you only need to post it once and not individually but the catch 22 based on your research and survey results, people would check their friends Facebook feeds several times of day out of habit, so just how much time is actually being saved? You stated in your paper that non-Facebook users can also potentially be left out from important communications – I myself have not signed up to Facebook (although I am an advocate of other social media services like Twitter, LinkedIn, GoogleWave and last.fm) and from my experience I can validate that remark. An example, I heard from an old friend that my ten year school reunion is coming up and that I needed to RSVP on Facebook, If I had not had a face to face conversation I would not have not known about the event. As it was being advertised only on Facebook, I had to request for my partner to contact the event organiser and RSVP on my behalf. When I compare this to the 5 year reunion, all communication was done via email so I guess the assumption today is that everybody in my age range (late 20′s) is on Facebook or will know somebody on Facebook. Do you think Mandy that aggregated feeds actually take away the personal touch of direct communication (IM or email)? Because you are not only providing updates to a small group of 15 personal friends but instead to your entire SNS circle of say 400 friends would you be inclined to say less knowing that everybody will be visible to what you have posted (Vascellaro, 2009)?

Vascellaro, J. 2009. Why Email No Longer Rules:The Wall Street Journal Online.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203803904574431151489408372.html
(Accessed May 13, 2010)
Written by jhiroberts about 2 years ago.

Hi Mandy,

A very interesting paper.

It was a great idea to do a survey among your Facebook friends, a very different approach which I really liked.

I just have one or two questions.

Did you ask about member privacy at all in your survey ? I only as my paper is on Facebook and privacy.

Do you agree with how Facebook launched the New-Feed application?

Do you think that Member privacy is being breached by the News-Feed application?

Again great read.

Cheers

Jhi
Written by Jennifer_cumming about 2 years ago.

Hi Mandy! I really enjoyed your paper, really good information, especially as I would class myself as one the people whose communication strategies have changed with all the information I receive from the newsfeed. A few things that I would say could be expanded on is whether there are any down sides to people relying on the information they get from the newsfeed to start conversations. For example, sometimes people will put false information on Facebook as a joke, or whatever, which you could think is true as it may not come across as the users intended. Also, when your paper said “Facebook members can experience a feeling of disattachment from society when Facebook is down or inaccessible (Alder, 2009). Members feel a constant need to check in and find out what people are doing, this has become so apparent that social networking has become a pastime or a recreational event (Ridings & Gefen 2004)”, I feel that you can maybe link this to the rise of addiction to the social network sites to expand your paper. But otherwise, a really interesting paper, especially as it is similar to my paper (http://networkconference.netstudies.org/2010/04/social-networking-sites-like-facebook-and-myspace-have-been-changing-the-way-teenagers-and-young-adults-communicate-to-their-real-world-communities-since-they-were-created/). Well done
Written by Mandy Burke about 2 years ago.

Hi Heidi,

Thanks for reading my paper and taking the time to comment! I am glad that you enjoyed it.

Mandy
Written by HeidiN about 2 years ago.

Hi Mandy,
Like Emelia, I’m not a fan of Facebook either. Although Facebook has not been great for me, there are some valid points you mentioned about the newsfeeds and the way it has contributed to communication.
I agree with the statement mentioned: “Being constantly updated with friend’s news has also led to a decrease in communication via traditional methods such as snail mail, text messages, phones and emails (‘Social sites eclipse e-mail use’, 2009).
I think the popularity of Facebook certainly has caused a drop in the traditional methods of communication. It is so much easier to have a huge group of contacts and just update your posts on your Facebook page rather than sending text messages to your friends/contacts. Better yet, as you noted the increase in smart mobile phone usage makes SNS like Facebook easily accessible while on the go.
I do have to say though that the most annoying part of the newsfeed on Facebook is the “What’s on your mind” option which I find thoroughly useless and I strongly agree with the quote by Grove: “People in my generation are using social networking sites for self-promotion, narcissism, and attention seeking” (Grove, 2009). Too many times have I read a Facebook page promoting one’s self image or false popularity containing self indulgent and attention seeking or damaging comments.
You’ve written an interesting and informative paper
HeidiN
Written by seolace about 2 years ago.

Nice post, thanks for writing!
Written by ESutton about 2 years ago.

Hi Mandy,
I really enjoyed your article and thought it had some great points.
I’m not a fan of Facebook but I do believe it has some really good aspects that make it worthwhile to be a user. Things like being able to reunite with old friends (yet maintain a distance from them), being able to see peoples shared photos and maintain contact with friends who have moved. Most importantly I like that because Facebook is a one to many form of communication, where I would normally be forgotten that I can still find out information. At its best Facebook amongst my friends is like one big social noticeboard, and I think the newsfeed obviously made that possible but also made it the easiest way to communicate and share information amongst a very large group of people.
Also I’d also like to agree with your comments on mobile phones becoming much more important in everyday life, especially in regards to the use of sites like Facebook. While I think the two girls who Facebook’d their problem were foolish, it does make one stop and wonder if they can Facebook why can’t they pick up the phone and use it to ring someone? Triple 0 or just someone who they thought could help… However this trend is unlike to decrease in the times to come with more and more smart phones being released and service providers offering unlimited access to selected sites as well as customised live feeds available through native applications on their phones. Users will have to do nothing more than unwrap their new phone and login and they will be instantly connected 24/7. Long gone are the days of waiting for a school reunion to find out how the rest of your class has fared.

Thanks for a really interesting paper,
Emelia
Written by Michael N about 2 years ago.

Mandy I am still deciding if your arguement is very much anti the news feed. You have argued well but I am convinced the change is not for the best, but that is just my view. I’ll have to ponder the issue a bit more I just think it was not throught through that well the effects on society – but then again is it the role of technology designers to do so? Probably not.
Written by Mandy Burke about 2 years ago.

Hi Kero,

I think for my next assignment I would definitely like to explore the area of the commercialisation of Facebook in more depth. I think this is an area that the average Facebook user would not be highly aware of what is happening in the background. As even people who study the area of Internet Communications are not fully aware of everything that is happening in the background.

Thanks for taking the time to read and comment on my paper.

Mandy
Written by Mandy Burke about 2 years ago.

Hi Jocelyn,

I agree with you that the games and applications updates are very annoying. I have hidden every game update that I see on my newsfeed! I am not a game player and like you don’t have the time.

You make a good point regarding the constructed emails, I always use to receive long emails from people traveling overseas or just from people in general. I very rarely get those emails anymore and I guess this is an example of, how email started the death of snail mail, social networking sites have started the death of personal emails. If only someone would figure out a way to reduce the amount of business emails everyone sends!!

Thanks for reading and commenting on my paper Jocelyn.

Mandy
Written by Mandy Burke about 2 years ago.

Hi Vicky,

Since writing this paper I have thought a lot about whether the newsfeed is a positive aspect in society or not. To be honest, I am not too sure whether it is a good thing or a bad thing. On one hand I think it is a good thing as I am always up to date with the details of my friend’s lives. But on the other hand I find myself not feeling the need to contact them outside of Facebook, as I already know what is happening in their lives. But there is nothing better than hearing your friend’s voice and an aggregated newsfeed will never be able to replace that feeling. My paper argues that Facebook’s newsfeed has changed the way people communicate and I definitely agree with that statement. But I find it hard to judge whether it is a good or a bad thing as society is yet to see the ramifications of having such infrastructure in place.

I definitely agree with you that part of the fun of catching up with a friend is asking those questions but I think Facebook has enhanced this aspect as a friend is already aware of the event and by the time you see them they are dying to know the details surrounding what has been published on the newsfeed. I think the whole process of getting to know people has changed since the introduction of social networking sites. I can’t remember where I saw it, but I once saw on TV that a girl wouldn’t date another guy without first seeing his social networking page. Which I guess with so many cyber predators out there a quick way to ensure someone is legitimate is checking out their digital footprint (however you would still need to show extra caution). But by stalking them online the person also does leave themselves open to etiquette issues of disclosing too much information! But this could also help to ‘break the ice’ as before going on a date you would know interesting topics to discuss.

Thanks for taking the time to read and comment on my paper Vicky.

Mandy
Written by Mandy Burke about 2 years ago.

Hi Dex,

Facebook’s newsfeed has always been in place but the original newsfeed was more of a succinct consolidation of what had been updated on a person’s profile (Thorp, 2007). This would mean if a person were to update their relationship status, change their info or update their status this would be published. In February 2010, Facebook were given the patent rights to the newsfeed and Mark Zuckerberg (creator of Facebook) was named as the inventor of the newsfeed (Currie, 2010). The patent specifically covers the short succinct updates that were included when Facebook was first launched and not the more detailed updates which were included at a later date. As you discuss, I think the more detailed updates were included as a clear progression of the site’s infrastructure and also in retaliation to Twitter’s infrastructure.

I agree that Facebook has gained momentum through the effortless way a person is able to build their social network. I have a lot of people that add me as a ‘friend’ and then never initiate a conversation or even make any contact at all! But I do think that this impersonal contact may also lead to Facebook’s eventual downfall. Will people tire of having 400 people’s daily updates blasted into their personal space? Will people tire of having bands and companies marketing to them constantly in their personal social network? I know that these are things that are starting to frustrate me about Facebook and I wonder how long it will be until I just want to socialise with my intimate social circle again.

Thanks for taking the time to read and comment on my paper.

Mandy

Currie, B (2010). Facebook snags patent for ‘News Feed’ minus statues updates. Digital Journal. Retrieved on 4 May 2010 from http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/288254

Johnston, C (2010). Facebook users prefer profiles over newfangled (ish) newsfeed. Arstechnica. Retrieved on 4 May 2010 from http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2010/04/facebook-users-prefer-profiles-over-newfangled-newsfeed.ars

Thorp, J (2007). Facebook’s newsfeed – Aggregating together your friends social history (or not). Retrieved on 4 May 2010 from http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2010/04/facebook-users-prefer-profiles-over-newfangled-newsfeed.ars
Written by Chris Johnson about 2 years ago.

Hi Jason and thank you for Taking the time in the Conference.

There is an interesting trend happening with Facebook “so it be in only in the US” As you read in my paper about the iPhone. Facebook is another example of Social Shaping Of Technology. It not necessitate that the technology be an artefact such as the iPhone. As you pointed out that there learning to live with privacy issues.

With your query about the Dumbar number 150 Hans Dusink has written an excelect paper here about your very question. http://networkconference.netstudies.org/2010/04/size-is-important-is-there-an-optimal-size-for-online-communities/

Chriso
Written by Jason Elston about 2 years ago.

Hi Mandy,

Great article. I’ve got a few quick thoughts.

This is a much bigger trend than just Facebook. It’s also the introduction of the broadcast nature of many communications channels now available. People are learning to live with transparency. They’re learning to live with privacy issues (if they’re aware of them). They’re learning to filter out the wheat from the chaff so they get the information that you’re interested in rather than everything.

I think a large chunk of the Facebook phenomenon if being driven by the rise of the use of mobile devices. They even mention that a quarter of the active users are from mobile devices. I wonder what impacts this is having on the way that Facebook is being used for communication as well. What are your thoughts on this?

I also wonder how communications are being affected across different demographics. Do you have any information about the different age brackets/backgrounds from your survey?

A couple of queries/questions

I think Facebook overtaking Google in visits was in the US only? While this is a large milestone, it’s not reflective of the entire globe.

You make reference to people in real life can only really manage about 150 relationships. When you refer to the percentage of your respondents that have certain numbers of friends. It would be great to know how many of them had 150 or more friends.
Written by Kero about 2 years ago.

Hi Mandy,

What a thought-provoking paper!

I think FB presents a real conondrum in that it provides so many opportunities for people to share their lives online, but in the background it is working overtime to monetize the information provided. Encouraging personal disclosure and the increased traffic that goes with “Facebook Stalking” is all part of the game.

A great read, thank you.

Kero
Written by Jocelyn Peucker about 2 years ago.

Hi Mandy

I enjoyed reading your paper. The only thing I find dissappointing with FB is everyones game updates LOL, not out of anger and annoyance, but out of jealousy! I don’t get to play the games anymore… way too busy for that .

I do agree though, that communicating to others via FB is so much easier.. than sending out tons of ‘constructed’ emails..

Well done

Cheers, Jocelyn
Written by VickyK about 2 years ago.

Hi Mandy – I agree with Chris’s comments in that Facebook are running the risk of facing a mass exodus of people if they become too involved in data capture. I believe that the newsfeed in particular is information overload, and although the information is there anyway, the benefits of having it aggregated and ‘fed’ to us are questionable – does it mean we waste more or less time overall?

You discussed how the newsfeeds can enhance relationships between friends in that it keeps everyone up to date by removing the predictable questions etc. I would say that part of the fun of catching up is waiting to hear the gossip without already knowing the highlights from Facebook. For people who you do not know so well, basic ice-breakers such as how is work going etc help the flow of conversation go smoothly, so some basic routine questions help put people at ease. Being privy to such information can definitely pose socially awkward situations, especially with people whom you have to ‘pretend’ not to know the details you do. I suppose this is another issue of the mix of social contexts within Facebook and how easily things can become messy with such a diverse group of ‘friends’ in the one place.
So, I wanted to ask if you believe Facebook’s newsfeeds to be a good thing?
Thanks,
Vicky
Written by Chris Johnson about 2 years ago.

Mandy
Good work. I think that feeds provide a constant update to what happening in our lives, The concern is of course it it also profiles us for the purpose of commerce.

My paper highlight the concern for the adoption of smartphones and the new culture is leading us away from traditional Internet. “The very existence of the open architecture of the internet is under threat as social designers will regulate what can and cannot be done on the internet through a funnel of SST”(Johnson,2010).

Facebook are constantly socially shaping its users and implementing new methods to trap data from them. The risk Facebook runs is a mass exit of users who have had enough of the trickery.

Good Paper Mandy.

The Chriso

Johnson, C. (2010). Apple internet:My iPhone is killing the internet. Paper presented at the Online Conference on Networks and Communities. from http://networkconference.netstudies.org/2010/04/apple%E2%80%99s-internet-my-iphone-is-killing-the-internet/
Written by dex about 2 years ago.

whats was the history of the facebook news feed? my belief was that it was spawned/ripped off after the rise of twitter popularity??
i think facebooks popularity lies in the fact that it doesnt feel as personal as email, it actually a public platform (news feed) with private sections (messages), so you are more willing to ‘add a friend’ rather than say give out your email. This then allows a close relationship to develop much faster than usual and in instances where it was once unaccepted in societies eyes.

good job dude

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Facebook’s aggregated news feed has changed the way people communicate.

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