All Social networking
sites have one thing in common; they are all designed to expand our network of
friends. What I am most interested in, is why we 'add' people to our 'friend's
list' whom we have never met before in our lives. Is this a display of power?
Something which increases our power? Or simply another way of expanding an
already vast network where everybody has equal power?
My focus virtual
network is Facebook, and after the lecture in week two analysing the creation
and mechanisms of power, an even more fascinating question dawned on me. How
does the 'virtual world' network differ from the 'real world' networks which we
are surrounded by and of which we include ourselves in, and what similarities
are there?
Firstly, in the 'real
world', we only possess the amount of power to make friends which another
person is willing to give us, if I was to walk up to a pretty girl and try to
be friends with her there is a high chance that either she'll completely ignore
me, or tolerate me for long enough so that she never has to talk to me again.
There is no power increase if she doesn't have another friend to add to her
list. However, in the virtual world I might simply add her and never talk to
her, yet she has gained another friend to her list, and so have I.
Secondly, we control
how we make friends and why we stay friends with people in a very personal way,
emotion often see's the end of friendships and relationships but the majority
of the time the person may still have to be a part of your life or be included
in your close friends lives. In the virtual world I can simply make them
disappear, literally…
John Allen (2003)
mentions that if “power is not some ‘thing’ or attribute that can be possessed,
I do not believe either that it can flow; it is only ever mediated as a
relational effect of social interaction.”
Without interaction,
there is no exchange of power. Thus I keep imagining a camera, it’s purpose is
to take a picture, but without something or someone to capture, it does not
have a purpose. It does not have power. If I was to make a “status” on Facebook,
without anybody to “like” it the post is completely useless, powerless.
Throughout the coming weeks I will discuss where power originates, how it
functions, and how to identify it in regards to Facebook. As well as the
particular ways it is applied.
Reference
List
Image from: hdwallpaper2013.com
Allen, J. (2003). Lost Geographies of Power. UK: Blackwell Publishers Ltd.
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