Because im sure all of you want to read my theory of communication i had to write for my first college paper ever, i decided to post it. also, my faith in strangers online was restored when i recieved my first letter today!! keep them coming, they totally make 3 hour classes worth it.
Everyday, usually more than once a day, I check my email. Not because I expect there to be a personal email from a friend, but because I might have a new friend request or new message alert from Myspace.com or Facebook.com. These are the two most frequented sites by many teens, and are the newest profile based people-directories. On both sites, one view other users profiles, which generally consist of any number of pictures, a list of favorite bands, movies, TV shows, and maybe even favorite books, and a (hopefully) short description of the user, a place where their friends can leave comments, and of course, a listing of users they have added as friends. Users can send messages to other users, leave them image comments or comments on their profile. These are the most basic levels communication within MySpace and Facebook.
One of the most interesting parts of these sites is not the actual profiles, but the friends users have listed. Currently on MySpace, I have 427 friends listed, and at times have had as many as 600 friends listed. Now you say, Wow! 600 Friends! She must be popular! Unfortunately, Im just not that cool. Friends on these sites can be divided into two categories; people you have met, and people you havent. Friends and acquaintances fall into the first group: the people you have met. This group makes up for maybe 40% of my friends list, but this will vary with the individual. This group holds the most communication, both physical and online. The second group of users are people whose profile you somehow found, they may have gone to high school in the next town over, or live halfway across the globe. They were added to your friends list because you found them interesting or attractive, or maybe just wanted to add another name to your friends list. This group can be divided in half: users you will probably never meet, and people you may just run into. Interaction with the second half of this group, the potential friends and acquaintances, can be the most difficult, but the most interesting to study.
Facebook sorts users by their college, (Facebook requires a valid college email for membership) and users can search for new friends by college, high school, interest, and course enrollment. This allows users to friend many users at once, creating many potential friends and acquaintances. The acquiring of friends is as important to understand as the short messages, such as, Hey! Youre in my Systems and Theories class! or Dude, you live directly above me! which sometimes follow a new Facebook or MySpace friendship, but the most interesting part of these online communities is not the basic concepts or the obvious communication, but the bridge between MySpace or Facebook potential friends and acquaintances, and real friends and acquaintances. This comes when two online friends actually run into each other, and the bridge is either crossed, or not. I seem to have reached this odd impasse time and time again in the last week, and a majority of the time, the bridge was not crossed, the person remained only a MySpace friend, even if felt like both people knew we were online friends. Fortunately, a summer of frequent MySpace and Facebook use has not been completely useless. Exactly 7 times I have had the same, Hey! Youre my MySpace/Facebook friend! conversation. Two of the times were in the dorms, two were in classes, and three were at parties.
While the conversations at the parties were generally aided by a $5 beer cup, the MySpace or Facebook friend conversation came the easiest, not because anyone was inebriated, but because conversation starters at a party the first week of school can become a welcomed necessity, especially after hearing throughout classes and orientation, Hello, my name is _____, I live in _______, Im a _______ major, more times than anyone would care to count. At parties where you dont necessarily know many people, some sort of conversation starting device is necessary to meet new people and strike up conversation, but in classes and around the dorms, this is no where near as much of a necessity. In class, many teachers encourage student interaction, and aid this with icebreakers, class discussion, or small group activities; or forbid vocal social interaction during class all together, and an introduction among students is no longer needed. However, twice, classmates went out of their way to introduce themselves as a MySpace or Facebook friend. During the break of my three hour Acting 1 class, Cait, who was also walking to the bathroom said, Hey, I think youre my MySpace friend! This wasnt needed as an introduction, we had just played tag and red-light, green-light, and I knew her as Cait is going to Cali and is bringing her cat, from the icebreaker we had played. Did she point out our MySpace friendship because she thought it was funny or interesting, or did she want to establish that we shared a MySpace bond as MySpace friends? Even if such a bond is insignificant in many aspects, and I really know nothing about her hobbies, major or musical interests and only added her as a friend because she was also attending Fitchburg State, it establishes a connection that we both use MySpace, that we both add potential friends and acquaintances, and this connection enables two strangers to have a previously established bond.
tell me what you think, its due tomorrow.
but, i can always revise it after then too.
im semi happy with it, except it definitely ends to abruptly. but thats what hes gunna get if he asks for a 2 page paper on a theory of communication ive created out of thin air.
Everyday, usually more than once a day, I check my email. Not because I expect there to be a personal email from a friend, but because I might have a new friend request or new message alert from Myspace.com or Facebook.com. These are the two most frequented sites by many teens, and are the newest profile based people-directories. On both sites, one view other users profiles, which generally consist of any number of pictures, a list of favorite bands, movies, TV shows, and maybe even favorite books, and a (hopefully) short description of the user, a place where their friends can leave comments, and of course, a listing of users they have added as friends. Users can send messages to other users, leave them image comments or comments on their profile. These are the most basic levels communication within MySpace and Facebook.
One of the most interesting parts of these sites is not the actual profiles, but the friends users have listed. Currently on MySpace, I have 427 friends listed, and at times have had as many as 600 friends listed. Now you say, Wow! 600 Friends! She must be popular! Unfortunately, Im just not that cool. Friends on these sites can be divided into two categories; people you have met, and people you havent. Friends and acquaintances fall into the first group: the people you have met. This group makes up for maybe 40% of my friends list, but this will vary with the individual. This group holds the most communication, both physical and online. The second group of users are people whose profile you somehow found, they may have gone to high school in the next town over, or live halfway across the globe. They were added to your friends list because you found them interesting or attractive, or maybe just wanted to add another name to your friends list. This group can be divided in half: users you will probably never meet, and people you may just run into. Interaction with the second half of this group, the potential friends and acquaintances, can be the most difficult, but the most interesting to study.
Facebook sorts users by their college, (Facebook requires a valid college email for membership) and users can search for new friends by college, high school, interest, and course enrollment. This allows users to friend many users at once, creating many potential friends and acquaintances. The acquiring of friends is as important to understand as the short messages, such as, Hey! Youre in my Systems and Theories class! or Dude, you live directly above me! which sometimes follow a new Facebook or MySpace friendship, but the most interesting part of these online communities is not the basic concepts or the obvious communication, but the bridge between MySpace or Facebook potential friends and acquaintances, and real friends and acquaintances. This comes when two online friends actually run into each other, and the bridge is either crossed, or not. I seem to have reached this odd impasse time and time again in the last week, and a majority of the time, the bridge was not crossed, the person remained only a MySpace friend, even if felt like both people knew we were online friends. Fortunately, a summer of frequent MySpace and Facebook use has not been completely useless. Exactly 7 times I have had the same, Hey! Youre my MySpace/Facebook friend! conversation. Two of the times were in the dorms, two were in classes, and three were at parties.
While the conversations at the parties were generally aided by a $5 beer cup, the MySpace or Facebook friend conversation came the easiest, not because anyone was inebriated, but because conversation starters at a party the first week of school can become a welcomed necessity, especially after hearing throughout classes and orientation, Hello, my name is _____, I live in _______, Im a _______ major, more times than anyone would care to count. At parties where you dont necessarily know many people, some sort of conversation starting device is necessary to meet new people and strike up conversation, but in classes and around the dorms, this is no where near as much of a necessity. In class, many teachers encourage student interaction, and aid this with icebreakers, class discussion, or small group activities; or forbid vocal social interaction during class all together, and an introduction among students is no longer needed. However, twice, classmates went out of their way to introduce themselves as a MySpace or Facebook friend. During the break of my three hour Acting 1 class, Cait, who was also walking to the bathroom said, Hey, I think youre my MySpace friend! This wasnt needed as an introduction, we had just played tag and red-light, green-light, and I knew her as Cait is going to Cali and is bringing her cat, from the icebreaker we had played. Did she point out our MySpace friendship because she thought it was funny or interesting, or did she want to establish that we shared a MySpace bond as MySpace friends? Even if such a bond is insignificant in many aspects, and I really know nothing about her hobbies, major or musical interests and only added her as a friend because she was also attending Fitchburg State, it establishes a connection that we both use MySpace, that we both add potential friends and acquaintances, and this connection enables two strangers to have a previously established bond.
tell me what you think, its due tomorrow.
but, i can always revise it after then too.
im semi happy with it, except it definitely ends to abruptly. but thats what hes gunna get if he asks for a 2 page paper on a theory of communication ive created out of thin air.
VIEW 3 of 3 COMMENTS
twizz:
its a bit late and all...but i think its good. if i had no idea what either site did, i think i would have a good general understanding. not only that...it kinda seems websites are the way to make friends these days. i have a couple really really good friends now..that i originally met on myspace.
nick667:
hey whats up