Facebook AND GoogleBy Samantha Healy, Rachel Gale and Kieran Sawyer

Facebook•Launched in 2004 and was originally just

for Harvard college students•Created by Mark Zuckerberg•Named after the yearbook that was given

to freshmen•Soon extended to highschoolers and the

wider public•Took 8-9 months after going public to

reach 50 million users

Facebook•Mark Zuckerberg (as of 2012) owns 28%

of Facebook•Facebook’s revenue and profit comes

mainly from advertising•As of 2012, Facebook had over 1 billion

active users, of which 8.7 were estimated to be fake

Facebook is changing culture

•I.e.. ‘To friend’ or ‘Facebook them’ are verbs

•Filled with people who make it their goals in life to get attention- spammers, politicians, teeny boppers, marketers

•Can be seen as a social handicap to not have Facebook

Facebook users•Its considered a teenage thing, but also

has a large adult population•Half of Facebook users are not students•More than half of Americans aged

between 12-17 use Facebook•Have to be 13, or claim you’re 13 to have

a Facebook however people lie

Problems With Facebook•Privacy issues•Stranger danger•Sexual predators•Cyber bullying•Annoying teenage attention seeking girls•New friendship and social issues

Privacy•People, especially young people, are

unaware of how much information they make public

•People post their addresses, phone numbers and personal details like timetables which can be accessed publicly

•Privacy levels change back to default or ‘public’ once you turn 18, however people do not realise this.

Social and Friendship problems because of Facebook

•To add your boss/mum/dad/grandma/colleague?

•Facebook Official- Relationship status•The fact that people can find out things

before you’ve had a chance to tell them in person or even see them

•Unfriending/not adding people

Narcissism•Defined as: Excessive or erotic interest in

oneself and ones physical appearance, OR: Extreme selfishness with a grandiose view of ones own talents and a craving for admiration

Digital Narcissism And Facebook•Selfies•Obsession with our own faces•Facebook users committed to self exposure•Presentation of the self•Facebook literally functions as a digital

archive of ourselves- saves posts, status’, comments, photos, the notes section

•Impression management•‘Technology is neutral, its how we use it’

Andrew Keen

SELFIES

Impression Management•Public Displays of connections- Friend

lists•Articulation of friendship lists•Attractiveness of one’s friends•Protean Selves•Selfies, Instagram, Snapchat

Google•Carr’s basic thesis is that ‘Google is

making us stupid’ or more specifically that we are losing our ability for deep reading

•‘If it isn't on Google, it doesn’t exist’- Jimmy Wales

•Google Search- images, email, books, video, maps, scholar, blogger, Picasa, Android, YouTube, Chrome, Drive, Google +, Motorola Mobility

Google- Maryanne Wolf•Google Promotes a reading style that puts

immediacy and efficiency above everything else- Maryanne Wolf

•We tend to become ‘mere decoders of information’ Maryanne Wolf

•Reading is not an instinctive skills and technology has reshaped the neural circuits of our brains

Deep Reading•Started with the print press- writing

things down so we don’t have to remember it

•Deep reading- Time spent in a library researching for hours, now we just skim- sources are now available where ever

•Skimming is a new form of scholar- study at a London University

Deep Reading cont.•Two key Technological developments

responsible for this change1. The hyperlink- propels you toward

information but also distracts2. The search engine- Makes the internet a

universal medium for information•We are reading more than ever, but no

longer read books in their entirety. •Questioned whether you take as much in.

Advertisements in Google•Your searches dictate what ads appear to

you.•Strives for a “smarter” search engine.•They collect information -> feed us

advertisement.•“The human brain is just an out-dated

computer that needs a faster processor and a bigger hard drive.”

•It’s in their economic interest to drive us to distraction.

Adaptations of Traditional Media•TV Programs ad Text-Crawls/Pop-up ads

to cater for the publics short attention span.

•Magazines/Newspapers shortening their articles, crowd the pages and add info-snippets.

Shirky’s opinion•Agrees with Carr and Wolf, but states that

anxiety is brought on by culture change rather than the decline of deep reading.

•Shirky questions whether the cultural sacrifice in the transformation of the media is worth while.

Discussion•Is the new way we absorb information

(skim reading etc.) less/more effective than traditional reading?

•Do you feel that your Facebook representation is accurate to who you really are?