Public displays of connection - Essay Example

1. Facebook I would say, did affect my social network. It made me more open to those who I didn't really know, and friends of others. It also gave methe ability to ask questions that I wouldn't normally ask face to face. It allows you to be able to express yourself in ways others didn't know, and also in ways that you wouldn't normally use. Like say for instance the "poking" option. This is a tab which allows you to "poke" someone, basically to let them know that you are interested, and if they are interested in you, they will either poke back or send you a message.

This is one way of broadening your social network. Don't get me wrong there are several different ways of doing this on the facebook site.What do I believe would happen if professors were to get on facebook I don't think it would be a major difference, only that some students would be more close to their professors. However this is not always likely to happen, because just because you know someone on facebook doesn't always mean that you will communicate with that person. I say this because I am in that boat.

I have several friends in which I don't know, or met through others, and I don't communicate with them because I know nothing about them, or I'm just not interested. Overall though I do think that professors and facebook will have some type of effect on student and teacher relationships.When it comes to privacy, this has always been an issue and always will be. So I agree and disagree. Although I don't think that somebody who is a member to facebook can fall victim to identity theft or any other economical crimes.

However I do believe that sometimes facebook can give too much information about a person and allow someone else who doesn't know the person to be able to view it, and interpret it any several ways. But, then again most people can not see other people's profile unless they are listed as a friend or friend of a friend, so in a way privacy is not really an issue. It as simple as saying if you don't know a person don't accept his/her invitation to be a friend, only if you are worried about protecting information that you only want your friends to know.

--I agree that Facebook can promote communication between individuals who may not otherwise have a forum in which to meet and communicate. However, I disagree that Facebook is a completely safe interface with absolutely no risk of privacy infringement or identity theft. I feel that whenever there is an exchange of information over the internet, there is an element of risk involved. I agree that Facebook could potentially strengthen student/teacher relationships, but it is also possible that it would not impact these relationships at all.

As the writer points out here, social networking, whether in person or on the internet, is still a choice, and if professors and students don't choose to mingle in person, then it is likely that they will choose not to communicate on Facebook either. 2.I do have a facebook account, but only because people kept telling me to get one. I ended up liking it though, it's like a better aim profile. Pretty much all of the people I have on facebook I have on aim, so facebook hasn't really affected my social network, but it does enhance my knowledge of others from the stuff they put in their profiles either directly or indirectly.

Those random people though, those guys annoy me. I have no idea who they are, so they probably find me through my facebook friends. I only have 40 friends on facebook, to some that may seem like a decent number, but compared to most people on facebook, it is miniscule. Some of them I grew up with in high school, and some I met here at MSU. While I don't keep in close contact with most of the people on my facebook, it's nice to see what they are up to every once in a while. They recently added picture tagging, where you can post pictures on other peoples profiles so I am trying to dig up some old embarassing pics from back when. heh.MSU professors joining facebook is a nice idea, adding another connection to students.

I think it would make communication easier. but then again, those professors who are hard to get ahold of from email will probly not care much for facebook either. I also think there should be some kind of limiting access because professors having full access to their students facebook accounts seems wrong. For example: I wouldn't want my professors to know about my drinking escapades (if i had any) or other things "grown mature adults" would most likely frown upon. Interestingly, as I looked at the article more closely the article actually talks about something similar to this on page 8, only instead of students hiding their profile from professors, it was the other way around.

The thing is, what would be the point of professors having facebook accounts if they made some kind of privacy barrier It would be the same as angel or email. A professors' facebook where they would only fraternize amongst other professors seems kind of silly to me, but still very possible. If somehow there was to be an integration of facebook and angel, then that would be real ultimate power.I do agree with the Donath and Boyd article about the impact on privacy from social networking services such as facebook.

Power comes with knowledge. The more you know about a person, the better you can choose to maybe meet with someone. It has to work both ways, otherwise, one side would need to be risking alot more. As it says in the article, "The cost of accountability is a reduction in privacy." Of course people can make up fake information (ie: all those Jesus people), and hopefully people will not rely on their displayed information to make judgements. If someone were to make up a fake "real person" using stolen pictures though, that would be a lot tougher to distinguish.

The good thing about facebook is that you can only have one account per email and the email has to be from a real university. That usually limits a person to one only account prividing at least some distinguishability (is that a word). I don't know how myspace and friendster work, but if they don't have some way to prevent people from making up profiles left and right then they aren't very reliable.-- I feel that the majority of people who use forums like Facebook, use them to communicate with or keep track of people they already know as is suggested by this individual.

This kind of defeats the social networking aspect of these sites. I also find it highly annoying when people I don't know anything about try to contact me or chat with me through Instant Messaging or E-mail. I think as time becomes more scarce and increasingly valued, forums like Facebook will become essential for maintaining social contacts with family and friends who live far away. I don't think many lasting relationships are sparked through chance contacts on these social networking sites.