When I think of my own experiences in social media, I can say I am an active user of Facebook. As Manca and Ranierit (2012) stated that I would also define Facebook as one of the online learning environments which has research implications on identity and self-representation with friendship articulation. When I consider my own use of Facebook, I didn’t use it for any formal educational purposes (such as posting ideas or collaborating with peers for a specific course). However, I mostly use it to gather information, follow the news and discussions around the world (educational, political, daily discussions and conversations). Also, since my friends’ list reflect many different nationalities, it provided me a space to learn from my friends’ different cultural and social experiences and perspectives. In a way, Facebook provided me some connections/ networks that I learn more about diverse contexts by chatting with others, reading their posts etc. Other important use of Facebook for me is following the work of academics. Most of the professors that I know, or I am curious about are using Facebook to share their work, seminars, papers and views on variety of different topics. By following their post, I am keeping updated. In that way, I can participate their discussions, interact with them virtually and learn from them via these positive and encouraging relationships. In that way, Facebook provides for me a space for participation and learning.
Selin — I think that your use of Facebook reflects some of the positive affordances of social networking sites. As you point out, not only are you able to engage in dialogue and build knowledge with/from others from a vast array of international perspectives, you are also able to network with professionals in your field to engage with and learn from their work and ideas on topics that interest you. I appreciate your perspective on Facebook usage as it reflects the learning that can be generated from belonging to and engaging in social networking sites. Personally, I am no longer a user of Facebook because my experience on this site was not as positive as yours. My decision to delete Facebook came from seeing it as a distraction to and hinderance on my own learning. What I noticed while on Facebook was that I was (a) continually checking my phone and wasting time browsing Facebook rather than engaging and being present in my daily “real” life (as opposed to my “virtual” life); (b) unable to engage in constructive dialogue with others because the views that people held on Facebook (particularly political views) maintained due to the curative nature of the feed wherein your likes and commentary dictated the information that would pop up in both your video and news feed; (c) people maintained their opinions and connected with others that held their opinions rather than expanding their reach to constructively dialogue and connect with others who might have dissenting or conflicting views, therefore hindering their ability to learn from others; and (d) people only post what they want to project to others about themselves which feels very inauthentic and fabricated. For me, the questions that emerge when comparing positive experiences on Facebook to negative ones is: When do the benefits of social network sites (such as Facebook) outweigh the drawbacks, and visa versa? What features of the social media site (such as the curative nature of the newsfeed) hinder, rather than enhance learning?
Hi Selin,
Thank you for your post, and I think Brittney raises some crucial questions for this week 4 discussion. The first part of this W4 Question 2 asked “what made it social media (i.e., provide support from the readings in your definition).” Can you say a bit more about what makes Facebook a web 2.0/social media and ground your definitions in the reading(s)? For instance, are there technical features of this web 2.0 that distinguish it from the early web 1.0 or certain features or functions that distinguish it from a technology you would not characterize as “social media?” Thank you for drawing on the readings to support your point(s).
Hi Brittney and Chris! Thank you for your thoughtful responses and questions. Brittney, I think you raised really important points about Facebook which also resonates with me. In my post, I mostly reflect on the advantages of Facebook in terms of helping me to reach information and interact with others. However, I also found myself into some tense discussions with other people who are not interactive or open-minded about other’s ideas. While this discouraged me to form relationships and having conversations with others, it also reminded me the nature of some problematic interactions we exposed in our daily lives. I also agree with you about continually checking phone and wasting time browsing Facebook. Sometimes I found myself wasting time on it, but I think this is a general problem for me with other social media channels, too (especially for Instagram). So, I think that Facebook has its own pros and cons to support learning, but as an individual learner, I have the agency of using the Facebook in relation to my own interest and to support my learning and create positive interactions with others.
Chris, also thank you for your comments and suggestions. In terms of, unpacking the second part of the question, I could say that my ownership and ability to generate my own ideas, videos or pictures on my post makes Facebook as a form of Web 2.0 space. Since Facebook and Web 2.0 platform give me a space to add, chance/edit or share my content with others, it provides users a more collaborative and interactive space (as opposed to Web 1.0 spaces). As I read in Greenhow et al.’s (2009) article “Web 1.0 predominantly, although not exclusively, involved hierarchically arranged websites with information largely controlled by a small group of content providers (Cormode & Krishnamurthy, 2008)… “Web 2.0,” a term coined in 2004, characterizes a transition from the predominantly read-only Web 1.0 into a “read-and-write” Web 2.0 (McManus, 2005, para. 1). Web 2.0 facilitates “participatory,” “collaborative,” and “distributed” practices within Web 2.0–enabled formal and nonformal spheres of everyday activities (Lankshear & Knobel, 2006, p. 38).”
Selin,
I would love to have a more international friends list. Like I said in my post, social media is a place that I can see others’ reactions and it looks like that is one way that you use it. You take it further by creating discussion. Your post makes me think about how qualitative data like FB posts can be used to give voice to the Quantitative data that can be collected on people’s perceptions and experiences. It also seems that you are leveraging the networking capabilities of the site to create or join a professional learning network that can help you hear and see different perspectives of your colleagues and others in your field. That is a very smart move and definitely an affordance of Facebook. Like Brittney, I’ve faced some drawback on FB and other social media sites? What are some drawbacks, if any, of using FB to form your professional learning network?
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