Monday, October 11, 2010

Everybody’s Business - Keeping Our Distance, the Facebook Way - NYTimes.com

An interesting take on Facebook – for people who master the Facebook conceptual model and related etiquette, at least

But it is the lack of obligations that makes Facebook better than other forms of communication. It’s socially efficient and even appears to make staying in touch a whole lot less work. You can read about friends taking their children to soccer games, but your lack of response doesn’t mean that you will stop hearing about their birthday parties, swim lessons, prom nights and graduations.

You can even hide a friend’s messages and they are none the wiser. Facebook also lets people create hierarchies of friends so that information can be shared selectively. No one but you sees the cliques you assign people to. It shouldn’t be too surprising that Facebook has this effect. After all, technology has a grand tradition of distancing people from one another for the sake of efficiency.

Everybody’s Business - Keeping Our Distance, the Facebook Way - NYTimes.com

No comments: