Journal Entry 2

Facebook:
I would consider myself to be a regular facebook user but can go a couple of weeks or sometimes even longer without going on it all. Facebook is a social networking website where anybody can create an account. Its key features include; to ability to chat online to friends who are also online at the same time and this is kept private just between the two friends concerned.
If you also wish to express your feelings and emotions out in the open you can by updating your status. This enabling everybody (on your friends list) to comment on it if they want to. As a result of the user updating their status they must be careful what to say depending on who they have as friends on their account. For instance, if they have family members as friends they may be more careful to how they phrase things or even by not updating their status and just tell friends via chat.
It is also used to find out about social events amongst friends and me the user. It tells you about friend’s birthdays and whether or not they are having a birthday party or just doing something to celebrate. In one instance I had not been on facebook for a while and missed one of my friends birthday party and they were annoyed at me not going and said that the invitation was on facebook. So if I would have gone on facebook more regularly that month then I would have saw it and not missed the party.
It can also create a sense of social identity for the individual. It has personal details and picture of the user. These could give a hint to the type of person you are or what an individual wants to appear like. Facebook links in what we have discussing in class in the sense that we looked virtual communities and social networks themselves. Trebor Schulz said instead of watching Television (TV), kids formulate comments, tag, share, collaborate, chat, work......”. Schulz’s quote shows the link that this has with classroom discussions. I feel that I, like many thousands if not millions, will still be using facebook in years to come as it offers so many things and I cannot see it being bettered in the next or so.
The experience of social networking sites, in specific facebook, has made me experience quite a lot of advantages of using them and as a result of this I will keep using them on quite a regular basis in the future. When me or my friends don not have any credit on their mobile phones or have ran out of free text messages then the next type of communication is via facebook. When on facebook people also usually have a routine while they are on the computer on facebook. This could be listening to music while on it. It also maybe accompanied with a snack and drink while having the TV on in the background as well.