Facebook After Death

Today's discussion concerning Facebook's policy on deceased users left me with a lot of questions so I decided to check out Facebook and see their actual stance on the issue. After searching for quite a bit of time, I finally found Facebook's most up to date policy on deceased member's accounts. Facebook deals with the issue in the "Help Center" under the title "Memorializing Accounts." They first explain what memorializing an account means:

When a user passes away, we memorialize their account to protect their privacy. Memorializing an account removes certain sensitive information (e.g., status updates and contact information) and sets privacy so that only confirmed friends can see the profile or locate it in search. The Wall remains so that friends and family can leave posts in remembrance. Memorializing an account also prevents all login access to it.

Facebook's approach to the controversial and touchy material of death is very well versed and respectful of the user's rights. It is an appropriate alternative to deleting the account altogether and allows for the deceased's user's family and friends to memorialize their loved one, while still respecting some boundaries with the removal of select information. It will be interesting to see how this new concept of "online grieving" plays out. Handling the passing of users will most certainly be a disputed topic for social networking sites in the future.

Although this is a somewhat morbid observation this topic is becoming especially relevant as the average age of users rises, creating a greater likelihood for the passing of users. It is inevitable that this issue will become more contested as the numbers of older users are growing at a rapid pace. According to data from iStrategyLab the number of Facebook users 55 and older grew 513.7% from January 2009 to July 2009. With this older demographic invading Facebook, no one can deny the relevance and importance of policy on the passing of users.

Online Attitude

In the online world of bloggers and social networking site users a new issue is arising over internet identity, I'd like to coin a new term to envelop this issue "online attitude." Online attitude refers to the differing personas between a person online and offline, specifically the increased confidence internet users feel when expressing their views online. This new dilemma of online attitude looks at how differently internet users act online versus, and why.

The principle difference between online and offline actions and personas is because of the medium itself. The internet allows users through forums like blogs and social networking sites to express themselves in a place where they face no direct rebuttals or backlash, allowing them to more freely express their views. This freedom of expression can sometimes extend itself too far and cause users to go too far in their expressions and sometimes act more irrationally then honestly. The nature of the internet's environment allows for a desensitized and depersonalized expression of one's self.

Bloggers like Perez Hilton have faced many problems with the blogging medium's freedom of expression. Hilton is infamous for his unforgiving and critical opinions of celebrities. As his blog gained more and more notoriety his online attitude became more aggressive and unforgiving. Hilton is open about the harsh criticism he receives from the celebrities he bashes, usually brief scoldings for his insensitive musings on celebrity's images, weight, and appearance and work. In July 2009, Hilton was confronted by Will.i.am for his extremely harsh commentary on Will, and other members of the Black Eyed Peas leading to a physical altercation between Will's manager Liborio "Polo" Molina and Hilton where Polo gives Hilton a black eye. Although online attitude has some benefits in revealing honesty through a certain comfort attained with the online medium, it also has many drawbacks when the attitude reveals irrational and inconsiderate behavior.

SNS Reflection

The recent class focus on Social Networking Sites like Myspace has revealed a number of my own memories about my prior use of social networking sites like Myspace. I can relate many of the themes of the articles and discussions to my own experiences. It has been interesting to analyze my own use of SNS in terms of these articles.

In the beginning of high school, Myspace was the most popular SNS at my school so I obliged with the trend and created a profile. Within hours of creating my profile I was fascinated with this new world of social networking sites. I can remember the importance of profile building and the social and technical codes associated with it. Many of my friends spent hours building their profiles and searching for html codes to manipulate the appearance of their profiles. I remember the arduous process of deciding which photo to make your default and other tasks that now seem trivial, but were once important components to your identity performance, or how you chose to present yourself to the Myspace world.

After six hours of school, two hours of swim practice and hours of homework I would finally be able to check Myspace and be able to explore the profiles of my friends and classmates. This experience of using Myspace as a release and as a change of pace from the "structured lives of teens outside and inside the home" most definitely was in line with my use of Myspace as a SNS.

Writing this post prompted me to see if I could still access my Myspace profile which I hadn't accessed since high school. After contemplating over which email address and password I used at the time, I was finally able to access an aspect of my life that was once seemed so important. This experience proved to be very reflexive about the way I was once portrayed myself online. I am now much more conscious about what I post online. Maturity and more visibility to adults may be the catalysts for my more mature portrayal on Facebook. It was quite the trip down memory lane examining my prior SNS use. The experience has actually revealed a lot about how I much I have changed in the past two or three years. In some ways it was like looking at an old yearbook, seeing my closest friends at the time, and my primary interests. I encourage everyone to check out their old SNS profiles to see how much they have changed and how differently they may interact on social networking sites now. In the future we may see SNS profiles functioning more in this way, as place-markers and reminders of old times and former personas.

Misuse or New Use?

In class we briefly mentioned how various organizations create and use online applications like Facebook, Twitter and Wikis for exposure and more or less, free advertising. This raises the question: are these organizations misusing these applications, or creating new uses and expanding the scope and possibilities for these applications.

Everyday I see new companies on Facebook with profiles. From small businesses like Christina's Ltd a small boutique in my hometown to international corporations like Patagonia, it seems everyone is jumping on the Facebook bandwagon for free exposure. At first these businesses had to create personal profiles just like everyone else but Facebook responded to the demand and added a 'Pages' application, so that businesses can more easily create profiles. This is an example of organizations expanding the possibilities for an online application.

Similarly, Twitter has been inundated with businesses creating accounts to spread the word about their sales, promotions and other services. Twitter has become a great platform for businesses to expose themselves to potential clients. Was Twitter created with the intention of being a venue for businesses to expand their cliental? Most likely not, but again organizations have expanded the uses of the applications to meet their needs.

Wikis have also seen a shifting purpose as it has become common for organizations to create Wikis not only for exposure as with Twitter and Facebook, but also because they function as easy to create websites. In many cases the organizations do not even utilize the Wiki for its true function but just as platform for their website because of their easy to build nature. This is an example of organizations misusing an online application, not expanding the scope of its possibilities.

The question that remains to be answered is if it is a positive or negative concept that these organizations have expanded the scope and possibilities for these websites. What do you think?

Wikipedia Sister Projects

The immensely popular Wikipedia has set the gold standard for what a wiki should be. It has taken the "wiki world" by storm, and helped the idea of wiki gain notoriety. What some may not realize is that the creators of Wikipedia have gifted us with a number of lesser known sister projects including Wikiversity, Wikinews and Wiktionary. These sister projects are not extensively advertised or linked to on Wikipedia which may have to do with their less notable status.

Welcome~

Welcome to Just John, a blog project for Media 392: New Media Studies, a course at the Catholic University of America.