So, while this blog makes sense given the chapters I read.... I made a grievous error and simply read the first 10 chapters of Facebook Fairytales, rather than a mix of 10 different chapters. So, keep that in mind when reading my post for the week because I can completely relate to the online memorial which I have since read about and have personal experience of, sadly, using Facebook for this purpose.
While I liked the preliminary 10 chapters of Emily Liberts amusing and touching read on the remarkable occurrences that have taken place as a result of the Facebook revolution, I was still left wondering were these occurrences truly "Miracles to Inspire the Human Spirt"? While there were both undoubtably touching and moving accounts in Liberts compilation of stories, I can't help but to be skeptical of the notion that Facebook is this earth-shattering mechanism by which modern day miracles are taking place.
Not to belittle the touching stories and heart-wrenching tales of several individuals mentioned in Liberts' book, however for some reason I seem to be unable to regard these stories with the same seriousness and authority as I would have if they had taken place through a different medium beyond Facebook. I don't know if it is because from day one, in growing up with the tool (as someone put it yesterday), Facebook, while it has been a momentous means of staying in touch with all of my friends, family and the like, as well as, uploading photos, sharing videos and creating events, is such a mundane part of my everyday life that I could never put it on this level of being a life changing tool. When you use a tool like Facebook for such mundane means it is hard to believe that people can view the tool as revolutionary, let alone life changing.
And yet for the people mentioned in this book, that is exactly what Facebook did, change their lives? The one story I really connected to was the story of Chris Hughes use of Facebook during Barack Obama's campaign trail. There are the obvious reasons of course as to why I enjoyed his story, he took a tool and retooled it to market and appeal to a mass audience for political motives and made use of a demographic crucial and largely unaccounted for in voting numbers by using a built in social network, to which a large portion are members or have access. However, there is more to his story than his innovative use of Facebook in the political campaign. The reason that this story resinated with me was because Chris Hughes has grown up with this tool, literally. From the moments of its conception in his college dorm room in 2004, to his use of the Social Media Network in the 2008 presidential campaign Hughes has been involved in Facebook's innovation every step of the way. So, needless to say, in being current with the site from day one and has never lost something or someone to be rediscovered years later.
I don't know if its because I cannot relate to rediscovering old ties because all my ties are current on the network, but I really cannot seem to relate to this idea of taking the plunge into joining Facebook and reconnecting with someone I have not spoken to since Kindergarten. I use Facebook in a day to day, up-to-date, methodology, where as the generations who proceed me use the tool to take a walk down memory lane. Facebook (for me) is all about recording the current memories, in a sense, I am archiving and reaffirming what I already know. So I must ask, in considering Facebook and these stories within this context that have... I have to wonder, have I been so consumed by the next big evolution in technology that I have been blinded to the importance of the residual effects of Facebook.
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ReplyDeleteHadley,
ReplyDeleteEven though my blog post makes it seem like i undoubtedly believe in the power of facebook beyond being social, I completely agree with your point that it's hard to imagine that Facebook, something that has become so commonplace for our generation, can be the source of all these incredible, life-changing stories. I really think it's a good question to ask, whether or not we have been blinded to the importance of facebook for so many people. As embarassed as I was when my dad joined facebook, he has since been so much happier and rekindled so many friendships that were once important to him that faded when he had a family to care for. He spends more time with people he knew from his childhood and from high school, and really enjoys having those connections back in his life. So, maybe it is just that we can't relate! because I can't imagine using facebook to find a girl that was in my first grade class who moved away the next year!