Pro or Anti Facebook?

Facebook is a social networking site, with other 600 million active users and a simple concept based on relationships. It was only a matter of time before something so human evolved to the virtual world; something that seems somewhat, inhuman. But just how does this effect our relationships? Does it help to bring people together or does it create divides? Speaking from my personal experience with social networking sites I can say it assists my relationships in a positive manner. Taking my classmates for example. At the beginning of art foundation I went into the class with only acquaintances, and it was a daunting experience as the group tried to figure out its dynamics. Now nearing the end of my foundation year I am closest with Jade. In this situation I feel Facebook acted as a new extension of our friendship away from the studio. It bridged the gap between talking in college and talking outside of art, allowing us to feel comfortable creating a friendship outside of college, a friendship between two people rather than the larger group friendship which we network within during college time. However I feel it has also aided communication with people I don’t always see eye to eye with during art. I think this may be because the conversations are somewhat more controlled, during a face to face conversation tones can be added, looks can be given and the conversation can escalate in different directions at a fast and free pace. It allows me to tolerate a persons personality more as it is perhaps more controlled.

When regularly used I feel that Facebook shows a persons personality and character. As you see not just how a person interacts with you but also with other people. This can either help you to warm to the person, appreciating their nature and finding similarities or it may show sides of their personality that you may not be so keen on. I know from personal experience that someone’s Facebook profile can indeed grate on you to the extent that you question your relationship. Do I really want to be friends with someone who appears childish and two faced when talking to other friends? Or should I view the person as I would solely based upon our friendship? Facebook can definitely show someone’s side you’ve never seen before.

Possible works :

Rather than focusing on the imagery and text of these websites perhaps I need to look into the sole reason that they are used and how they can affect a relationship. To explore this idea I could remove Facebook usage with a friend and instead communicate in alternative ways. Sending text messages, exchanging letters, face to face conversations, sitting in silence (highlighting body language and eye contact) and drawing pictures. Showing the contrast of communication.



Texts exchanged between me and Jade

 

Being a bit of a lets say memory hoarder, this idea reminded me of my own box filled with somewhat useless items. Gig tickets, boarding stubs, cinema tickets, empty packets, invitations, handouts, leaflets, pretty much every train ticket I've bought and so on.



The next idea was building on this alternative communication, and rather than finding alternatives creating some form of anti Facebook or anti blog. As a piece of work I like the idea of creating a real life blog. Printing photos, writing posts and collecting almost mundane objects like the napkin given with toast (people often tweet about what they’re eating…how interesting). By collecting these piece I can create a physical presence for a physical world.