Thursday, December 2, 2010

Practicum 8 - Lily

For my final paper, I will assess my 3 social networking sites (Google Buzz, Flixter, and MuggleSpace), and relate them to the concept of Cyberculture Theory, discuss how the users on the site form their Online Identity, and explore Watson's definition of Community to decide whether each site is an example or a contradiction of that definition, or perhaps both. To be completely honest, I doubt i'll remain active on any of these sites after this project ends. I feel that i've gained an understanding of all the sites, and developed insight into the common practices of the users, but I also don't see any reason to build my online social circle beyond Facebook and Twitter. The idea of becoming virtual "friends" with people that i've never physically met makes me uncomfortable, and I find it a little sad and pathetic when people rely on online communities for the bulk of their social interaction. I know the argument can be made that social networks provide an outlet for people who are shy and have a difficult time making friends in the real world, but real life takes place in the real world, and some people just need to suck it up and learn how to interact with others. This may sound harsh, but I do feel that these sites, at least for some people, can be detrimental to the development of real life social skills which are necessary to success in society.

No comments:

Post a Comment