It’s no big secret that Facebook serves two discrete audiences. The first, early-adopting college students, compose the strong core of the site. The second, a sort of post-Friendster crowd, are discovering social networks anew, their interest stoked by the media and tech bloggers. Due to the structure of large-scale networks, these two audiences are largely invisible to each other – both inside and outside of Facebook, no less. Two Op-Eds this weekend illustrate this nicely.
The first is from Saturday’s Times, in which recent college grad Alice Mathias describes Facebook as a time-wasting, in-joke fueled venue for stalking one’s friends and potential romantic relations. Mathias rejects the utilitarian argument, arguing that it isn’t about the tools or the streamlining of the social life, but rather about performative aspects of identity – students endlessly trying to impress and amuse each other with profile tweaks and crafted pictures.
This view is rejected by Wired contributing writer Fred Vogelstein, who takes the techno-utopian stance in Sunday’s LA Times. Vogelstein claims that the information we share, such as our likes and interests, is verified by our social network – and if we fabricate we get called out. Furthermore, Vogelstein sees Facebook as purely utilitarian – a place to get and give social information. If someone was to break into Vogelstein’s house, he imagines that he’d put the information on his Facebook page and “every one of my neighbors — and the police — will know that too.” It’s sort of Bowling Alone meets the Transparent Society – Facebook as a place where the police are our friend, and they consume all of the social information we share.
What’s remarkable to put the two editorials side to side. Both are extreme; contrary to Mathias’ view, students do take advantage of Facebook as a social utility – it’s not all whimsy and identity play. And Vogelstein’s view is particularly chilling, one in which we turn to a Facebook to mediate even the most personal social information need. To a certain extent, these views represent the two divergent demographics in the site; it’s not hard to figure out what route Facebook prizes – they want to be the Google of human interaction. The question that arises is how much Facebook’s vision is grounded in reality. While there will always be college students looking to play digitally with friends, the prospect of a society taking up tools ala Vogelstein en masse is much harder to envision.
