Sunday 7 February 2016

Facebook




I have unfollowed (but no deleted) a lot of friends who post highly personal, TMI (too much information), or angry rant like posts on Facebook.  I follow a lot of celebrities, companies who sell products I like, and fan based pages.  While going through my Facebook timeline, I noticed that most of the posts I read were not from people, but from these companies I liked.  Those posts that were from people I knew tended to focus on movies, books, food, pets, social & political issues and travelling. 

J is an American friend who posts a lot about politics, her favourite shows/books/movies, her daughter, and cats.  She has a little girl who just recently started school, and is often talking about her frustrations with the educational system.  The video she shared was of University students in the States and how little they knew about their own history.

D is a social media expert and a lover of all things geeky.  Her posts tend to focus around her job as a social media manager, pictures of her pets, and fan videos, fandom memes, gif sets and more.  In this case, she’s posting a ‘spoiler’ about the recently released Star Wars video and saying she’s ‘sorry, not sorry’ because the movie has been out for a long enough time now.  She really, really loves geek culture, is a huge gamer, and often speaks out about sexism in gaming culture.



M was a friend from high school.  She’s posted a photo of herself in an outfit to match the era of “Pride, Prejudice & Zombies.”  With her is someone else who is dressed like a zombie.  M is a huge fan of books and geek culture as well.  She has said she is very excited to see the movie, and I’m assuming she and her friend are headed to watch it in full costume.

L is interested in attending the Silver Millennium Masquerade Ball.  Without clicking on this, I assume it has something to do with Sailor Moon.  I remember that she really loved that show as a kid (and still does now) as she recently posted about a gift she had received from a friend that was Sailor Moon Themed.    

I don’t know J very well anymore, but she keeps showing up on my newsfeed because of the news articles and funny posts she makes.  I could not tell you what she is up to her life, but I know posts a lot about sexism, racism and equality.

The last time I saw J2 was in University.  We were in the same program and worked together, so when we saw each other outside of class or work, it was usually at a party.  These days he is focused on his marriage, his job as a teacher, and his new born daughter, who he is currently trying to find a new carrier for.

I have not seen A since high school, but I know he recently left one job to start a new career, he lives with his girlfriend who he seems to really love, and has an adorable cat who he is constantly posting photos and videos of.

Sometimes, the most random things end up on my timeline.  But that's to be expected when you follow Tumblr.



 The posts I see are all picked out because of the accounts I interact with most often. so they also reflect my own interests.  There are many users I’m ‘Friends’ with who I never see on my timeline anymore, and anyone who starts posting things that are essentially overshare, I end up blocking.

More than updates from my friends, were posts from pages I’ve liked.  Corruption and policy brutality news reports, PSAs against drinking and driving, posts from George Takei, recipes (mostly from Buzzfeed and Tasty), and post that a breaking down the current Republican and Democratic debates. 



1 comment:

  1. Cara, I found it really interesting that most of your news feed is made up of companies that you follow. I wonder when you joined Facebook? I joined in 2007 (almost 10 years, yikes!) and I feel like back then there weren't really a lot of companies to follow, it was only my friends and family. I wonder how different a Facebook user's experience is depending on when they joined, and who they follow in terms of friends vs companies and additional outside content. Looking at the pages I've liked/companies I follow, it's only related to my friends (my NZ friend has a news segment I like, my photographer friend has a website I like, my girlfriend sells kid's clothes and I like her site) but as far as companies, I've never followed them or liked them. What do you think?

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