Blog One: Increase Your Social Status
By Emily Venema
By Emily Venema
Image from: http://www.icomnow.com
When we hear
the word power, many of us automatically think of the authority that rules over
us: the government, our Prime Minister,
or anybody who is held socially or financially higher than ourselves. But in
fact, power and disempowerment are aspects that each and everyone one of us
experience and encompass within our daily sociable lives. “Power should not be understood as an oppressive system bearing down on
individuals from above, smiting them with prohibitions of this or that. Power
is a set of relations…” (Foucault, (1988:13)) .
The virtual
network I have selected to analyse for my blogging assessment between weeks 3
and 8 this semester, is the widely used and known Facebook. I have been a
member of Facebook for approximately 4 years now, and I find the social
networking site to be extremely empowering for all members of the network. But
on the other hand, it has been mentioned by Jose Ramos in a blog posted on Empower Network, that those who are not part of the network are forced to experience
a level of disempowerment, due to a reduction in their social status.
The reason
for this automatic empowerment for those involved in Facebook, is due to the
freedom of opinion. Anybody can say anything they like, to, or about, anyone or
anything they like (Turkle, 1995) . Essentially, there
are no varying levels or power throughout the network. Every user is entitled
to the same services and opportunities when participating as a Facebook user.
However, non Facebook users do not possess this same social power and freedom
of opinion within the world of online social networking.
Reference List
Foucault. ((1988:13)). BA1002:
Our Space: Networks, narratives and the making of place, Lecture 2: Power.
Retrieved 2013, from [Powerpoint Slides]: http://learnjcu.edu.au
Ramos, J. (2012, April 26). How Facebook Changed the Way
We Communicate. Retrieved 2013, from Empower Network:
http://www.empowernetwork.com/joramos/blog/how-facebook-changed-the-way-we-communicate/
Turkle, S. (1995). Life On The Screen: Identity in the
Age of the Internet. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks.
"those who are not part of the network are forced to experience a level of disempowerment, due to a reduction in their social status. " what a great quote! also very true, think of those people who aren't on facebook and the things they miss out on. A friend of mine who does not have facebook always gets left out of bday events etc that are happening as people often organise it through fb events now. Well done :)
ReplyDeleteI have now been free of Facebook for almost a year and I would have to disagree with your quote stating that "those who are not apart of the network are forced to experience a level of disempowerment, due to a reduction in there social status". It was a personal choice to remove myself from that type of social networking and I feel very empowered for it. I believe that I am now more aware of my actual surroundings. I may not have as much contact with as many people anymore but it is my view that simply reading a persons' status a couple times a day is not actually knowing them anyway. I have discovered a handful of truly great friends who I actually physically socialise with every week and I am very grateful for them. It is in my opinion that Facebook is the modern day form of Jeremy Benthams' Panopticon (Turkle, 1995) in the sense that users are always being watched and their behaviours monitored and punished when necessary. So essentially, I have obtained my freedom by escaping the prison that is Facebook.
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