Reflection Essay
Online social networking is a phenomenon that has changed the way we communicate and socialise, with sites such as Facebook and Myspace becoming completely engrained in the daily cultural practices of millions of individuals. With the emergence of second-generation web, ways of communicating online were extended and amplified, allowing for the development of online relationships and the ability of individuals to publish and participate (Waschauer & Grimes 2007, pp.1). One of the significant devices to emerge from this new culture of authorship was the weblog (or blog) and the ability to publish text, images, video and sound online easily, quickly and anonymously. This essay explores the development and maintenance of online social networks and the practice of blog authorship, with particular reference to my personal experiences in constructing the DIGC101 web project.
In the construction of ALittleBitOfNice, my web project, I engaged in the construction of an online identity within the StumbleUpon online social network. As boyd and Ellison (2007, pp. 210) point out, ‘there are hundreds of [social network sites], with various technological affordances, supporting a wide range of interests and practices’ and StumbleUpon is one such network. The StumbleUpon network is quite unique among social networking sites as it offers a personalised recommendation system, which directs ‘users to web pages based on the positive ratings of friends or other users with shared interests or similar voting behaviour’ (Holahan 2007, pp. 1). The StumbleUpon social network is a representation of the way in which specific, specialised cultures emerge around particular social network sites, even when their ‘key technological features are fairly consistent’ (boyd and Ellison 2007, pp. 210). So while StumbleUpon is a social network, it is also a specialised search engine that creates a culture of ‘social discovery’ (Holahan 2007, pp. 1), enabling users to create an online network through the discovery of websites and users with similar interests and behaviours. Furthermore, the site allows users to communicate to others the network of individuals with whom we connect and to ‘view and traverse’ other individual’s network of connections (boyd and Ellison 2007, pp.211).
Social network sites, as defined by boyd and Ellison (2007, pp.211), are ‘web-based services that allow individuals to construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system,’ which means that individuals are able to communicate on a many-to-many basis, as opposed to traditional, more restricted forms of communication. Waschauer & Grimes (2007, pp. 13) suggest that ‘ease of posting, locating, viewing, responding to, an ranking multimedia on many sites’ is the reason for this transformation of ‘long-established patterns of social interaction.’ In terms of my web project, the ALittleBitOfNice Tumblr blog is an example of a public profile, which is broadcast to an essentially limitless audience. The ALittleBitOfNice StumbleUpon profile is also a public profile and all information in that profile is accessible by anyone with Internet access. However, while boyd and Ellison (2007, pp. 211) suggest that the norm for social network sites is to facilitate the articulation of a pre-existing social network, ALittleBitOfNice instead aims to create a network from scratch by appealing to an audience. That is to say, my web project is trying to create a set of connections that directly relates to and arises from the content and purpose of the project, rather than being built from a series of connections that already exist in my other social networks, both online and offline.
Directly related to this broadcast specifically for an audience is the use of a public blog. Blogs are accessible to anyone and everyone, and by connecting the StumbleUpon profile and the Tumblr blog, it was hoped the blog would draw a readership that would then instigate connections in the social networking space of StumbleUpon. The blog is essentially in a dairy style, falling ‘within the pre-Internet tradition of dairies and personal letters’ (Waschauer & Grimes 2007, pp. 5) but also represents a filter blog and knowledge log, as identified by Herring and her team (Herring et al. 2005). The filter blog is one that filters content from the wider Web and holds ‘observations and analyses of external, typically public, events, and [tends] to correspond to the informational or agitational purpose already described’ (Waschauer & Grimes 2007, pp.5). The ALittleBitOfNice blog can also be identified as a knowledge log because it provides ‘information and observations on a topic, project, or product’ (Waschauer & Grimes 2007, pp.5). The web project crosses all of these types: as diary type narrative about my personal experience, as a filter blog through exploration and the posting of ‘observations and analyses’ of content from the ‘broader Web’ (Waschauer & Grimes 2007, pp.5) and as a knowledge log, developing a knowledge base about a particular social networking site, aiming to ‘provide information and observations’ (Waschauer & Grimes 2007, pp.5).
Part of the process of publishing my blog has been taking into account the specific audience generated by the digital environment and how I write to that audience. The digital environment and mediation through computers ‘transforms various characteristics of the communication process’ (Moore 2009a, pp. 14), allowing the blog to be a form of interpersonal communication that is indirect, asynchronous and nonverbal and yet it creates a connection without presence, taking my monologue through ‘multiple layers of mediation’ (Moore 2009a). In addition to this, my blog invites interactivity through the ability of users to post comments and reblog, allowing the transformation of the monologue into a dialogue or even a multilogue over time, with users participating to help shape its content through these ‘feedback and evaluation mechanisms’ (Waschauer & Grimes 2007, pp.2). Though the blog is a public broadcast and has no specific target, I believe I probably write (even if unconsciously) to a specific audience, as this a likely practice in general in blogging culture. While a blogger is aware of the very public nature of their blog, it is usually very likely that the content of that blog is written to reflect the individual behind the blog and attract an audience that relates to and is interested in that bloggers personality.
As mentioned earlier, blogs are accessible by anyone and everyone and while I do seem to write to a particular audience, this obviously does not mean that only this target reads the blogs. Consequently, the public nature of blogs means that often impression management (Moore 2009b, pp.10) on them is somewhat different to that of personal social networking sites and other online interactions. I personally found that the way I interacted and contributed through my blog was significantly different to how I behave in my personal Facebook account, through email or in person. I would write more carefully, edit and consider posts much more and exclude things that I would be comfortable saying in a less public environment. In a social networking site, it is likely that most of your contacts are friends or acquaintances that you can trust and communicate with. In the setting of a blog, anyone can see your content and use it however they chose and furthermore, there is significantly less chance of being able to communicate with and interact with these individuals. This feeling of not having control over who has access to and use of your content and information relates to the idea of an online panopticon (Moore 2009b, pp.10).
In a panopticon, a term coined by Jeremy Bentham in 1791 (Campbell and Carlson 2002, pp. 586), you are perpetually under surveillance: invisible onlookers witness absolutely everything you say and do. In terms of social networks and online culture, your network becomes the ‘guards’ (in terms Benthams original concept of the panopticon as a prison) and every piece of content you post is available to everyone in that network and all their content is in turn available to everyone in their network (Moore 2009b, pp.10). The panopticon, and other systems such as Internet ad servers, ‘employ technologies of information gathering and aggregation in a methodic effort to appraise individuals and populations for various purposes of control’ (Campbell and Carlson 2002, pp.287). This feeling of being in a metaphorical panopticon by participating in social networking sites affected my behaviour and made me significantly more aware of how I was handling impression management. Constant surveillance seemingly leads to self-policing and careful consideration of content posted to try and maintain control over the representation of myself online (Moore 2009c). This cultural practice of impression management is becoming more and more commonplace as issues surrounding privacy and personal information online become increasingly spotlighted by the media.
However, the web also allows for a great deal of anonymity and in doing so, many individuals become less concerned about impression management and online representation because their content is not directly linked to their ‘real’ identity. In the construction of ALittleBitOfNice, while I found that I was more careful about what I wrote and what content I posted, I also found that the anonymity of the blog post released me from a lot of the constrictions of a personal social network. Despite the greater care in posting, writing the ALittleBitOfNice blog allowed me to express opinions and post content that I most likely would not within a social network that I use to maintain personal connections. My approach to anonymous blogging directly relates to what many say about the Internet, particularly blogging, and its ability to foster freedom of expression and honesty of opinion. While my blog was very unlikely to offend or upset anyone, if I was to write something that may offend or be controversial, the anonymity and untraceable nature of the blog would be an ideal platform. The legitimacy of a blog is not tied to its author, as a book is, and therefore blogging content is not likely to be connected to its actual author and effect their reputation. This factor is an important contributor to the cultural practise of blogging, enabling users greater freedom in posting content outside of their personal social network, filling an ‘intermediary role within online genres’ (Waschauer & Grimes 2007, pp.7).
In constructing the ALittleBitOfNice online identity, I was able to explore social network sites and the use of blogging and particularly the cultural and social practices that form around these platforms. In exploring the development and maintenance of my StumbleUpon identity and the corresponding blog, I could analyse my own practices associated with these platforms and how they differ from more personal, private online and also offline social networks.
References
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