I
have chosen Facebook as my popular culture topic. As most people my age, I was thrust into the
Facebook phenomenon as a way to keep an eye on, and safeguard, my
children. I heard over and over again
that “Everyone else has a Facebook page”, and “No one even uses MySpace
anymore.” I reluctantly allowed my two
older children to have a Facebook page.
After all, Facebook allowed the kids a way to communicate. When I was a teenager, the preferred form of
communication was tying up the telephone for hours.
The popular culture factors of
Facebook include the Economic, Education, Exposure, and Emotion and Sensation. The Economic factor only plays a minor
role. Facebook is free. This allows almost anyone to have access, as
long as they have access to a computer and the internet. Education also plays a minor role. Facebook is very user friendly; if you can
read, and type, you can use Facebook.
Correct grammar and spelling is not a requirement of using
Facebook. Although, the more educated
user will be likely to feel the need to correct the grammar and spelling of
others. Posted content is different
based on education levels as well. The
higher educated user is more likely to “share” newspaper articles and political
points of view with their friends.
The exposure factor is more evident
along age demographics. Although “Baby
Boomers” use Facebook, the Gen Xers are the prevailing users. These kids have been raised with
electronics. This is a normal way of
communication for them. The older user is
less likely to spend hours “surfing” Facebook to see what their friends are
doing and sharing. I find the emotion
and sensation factor the most interesting part of Facebook. While Facebook makes it easy to reconnect
with old friends, keep up with family activities, the emotional satisfaction
from sharing our lives with those we love (and sometimes barely know) brings a
sense of belonging. Having a bad
day? There will be many sympathetic
friends who will try to cheer you up.
Get bad service at a restaurant?
Complain to anyone who will read.
Going on a trip? Share your
vacation pictures. Have a political or
social cause you believe in? Post
articles, quotes, or outrages for all of your friends to agree with, or start a
debate about. Getting married or going through a bad
break-up? There is page after page of
quotes that will “speak” to you that you can share to express exactly how you
feel. According to a recent Harvard
University study, social media – Facebook was not named by name – has
discovered “that humans so willingly self-disclose because doing so represents
an event with intrinsic value, in the same way as with primary rewards such as food and sex (Study: Facebook Sharing Comparable To Enjoyment From
Sex, Food, 2012) ”
When it comes to myth, the creation
of Facebook itself is an example of the American Dream. A college student (or group of students)
develops what started out as basically an online student networking group for Harvard
University in 2004. In May, 2012, Facebook
went has “grown into a worldwide network of almost a billion people” went public.
It was the “most talked-about stock market
debut in years” (The Associated Press, 2012) .
Facebook is full of icons. Celebrities, Producers of music, television, and
movies, and even my friend, Winnie-the-Pooh all have Facebook pages. These pages allow fans to “like” the pages, and
follow the posts put up by the page owner. Sometimes these pages are run by other fans who
just want to share their love of their favorite icon.
What I once thought of as a "fad". Facebook has, in my mind, now become an icon of pop culture that I am sure will continue to be the focus of many research projects.
References
Study: Facebook Sharing Comparable To Enjoyment From
Sex, Food. (2012, June 23). Retrieved
July 8, 2012, from CBS DC:
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2012/06/23/study-facebook-sharing-
comparable-to-enjoyment-from-sex-food/
The Associated Press.
(2012, May 18). Facebook IPO Live: The social network goes public.
Retrieved July 8, 2012,
from Yahoo News: http://news.yahoo.com/facebook-ipo-live-social-
network-goes-public-123137118--finance.html
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