Andy, I split this up into two main categories to start with: what information she did include and what she left out. The headings that I used are taken from the top bar in the "edit profile" section of Facebook. In the headings that she did include information, I made a note of whether it was required by Facebook or not.

I don't think that I'll have access to the internet very much this weekend, but I'll try to check back in and add some more descriptions when I have the chance. - Jess

Description of Profile 1 (J.W.)

What's included

Basic

• Sex
  • not required
  • chose female from drop menu which included: male, female, or no answer
• Interested In
  • not required
  • chose men from check boxes which included the choice of: men, women, both, or neither
• Relationship Status
  • not required
  • chose single from a drop menu which included: no answer, single, in a relationship, in an open relationship, engaged, married, and it's complicated
• Looking For
  • not required
  • chose friendship, dating, and a relationship from check boxes which included the choices of: friendship, dating, a relationship, random play, and whatever I can get
• Birthday
  • not required
  • chose full birthday from options of showing full birthday, only month and day, or not at all
• Hometown
  • not required
  • could have filled in any city, real or fake and/or chosen any state or nearly any country
• Political Views
  • not required
  • chose conservative from drop menu which included: very liberal, liberal, moderate, conservative, very conservative, apathetic, libertarian, or other

Contact

• Email
  • required, but there is an option of hiding it from others
• AIM Screenname
  • not required

Personal

• Activities
  • not required
• Interests
  • not required
• Favorite Music
  • not required
• Favorite TV Shows
  • not required
• Favorite Movies
  • not required
• Favorite Books
  • not required
• Favorite Quotes
  • not required
• About Me
  • not required

Education

Picture

Other

• The Wall is shown--2 posts from Jess Affeldt, 2 from Erin Eliason
• Groups
• BSU Friends
• Friends in other Networks
• 1 story displayed on Mini-Feed
  • mini-feed is on every profile, but the stories can be hidden from others
• Name
  • Required, but can be edited
  • first & last (presumably birth name rather than a nickname)
• Network - Bemidji State '08

What's not included

Basic

• Residence
• Room
• Religious Views

Contact

• Mobile Phone Number
• Land Phone Number
• School Mailbox
• Address
• City
• State
• Country
• Zip Code
• Website

Personal

• all categories are included

Education

• all categories are included

Work

• Did not include the category of "work." However, she did include her place of employment under the "activities" category in the Personal section.

Courses

Election

Jessica, I got a look at the second profile and thought of a couple questions that we could possibly ask or look for, but I'm not sure they fit into description. I woke up in the middle of the night a couple times and wrote them down. 1) What's limited and what's not? i.e. how many friends, wall messages, info 2)What, if anything, is anonymous? Is it important?

I'll follow the same lines of organization that you did, since it's easy to follow. Actually, I'll copy and paste to save some time.

Description of Profile 2 (T.S.)

What's included

Basic

• Sex
  • not required
  • chose male from drop menu which included: male, female, or no answer
• Interested In
  • not required
  • chose women from check boxes which included the choice of: men, women, both, or neither
• Relationship Status
  • not required
  • chose single from a drop menu which included: no answer, single, in a relationship, in an open relationship, engaged, married, and it's complicated
• Birthday
  • not required
  • chose full birthday from options of showing full birthday, only month and day, or not at all
• Hometown
  • not required
  • could have filled in any city, real or fake and/or chosen any state or nearly any country

Contact

• Email
  • required, but there is an option of hiding it from others

Personal

• Activities
  • not required

Caps on activites's names

• Interests
  • not required

seems to capitalize proper names Taco Bell, Tai, Frisbee, though also caps Drawing

• Favorite Music
  • not required

lists genres rather than groups caps the genres, Rock and Roll, Blues, Punk, Heavy Metal

• Favorite TV Shows
  • not required

uses caps, except for "the Daily Show"

• Favorite Movies
  • not required
• Favorite Books
  • not required

Uses normal capitalization for titles and author's names

• Favorite Quotes
  • not required

all quotes appear to be from acquaintences and the names are not capped, though sentence punctuation is capped. He also uses quotation marks

Education

Picture TS's photo is a caricature, which is listed as one of his activities

Other

• The Wall is shown
• Groups
• BSU Friends
• Friends in other Networks
• No story displayed on Mini-Feed
  • mini-feed is on every profile, but the stories can be hidden from others
• Name
  • Required, but can be edited
  • first & last (presumably birth name rather than a nickname)
• Network - Bemidji State

What's not included

• Looking For

• Political Views

Basic

• Residence
• Room
• Religious Views

Contact

• Mobile Phone Number
• Land Phone Number
• School Mailbox
• Address
• City
• State
• Country
• Zip Code
• Website

Personal

• all categories are included

Education

• all categories are included

Work

Courses

Election

• AIM Screenname
  • not required
• About Me
  • not required

Similarities

spelling is casual Messages on Message board seem to be random comments or parts of various ongoing conversations

Both are members of "What in the hell is Facebook thinking?"

Sentence length in messages is short, though some of his messages are longer than 25-50 words, which seems to be the average length, at least in these two profiles.

Message content ranges from "friends" making random nonsense comments, to thoughts of school projects, questions about concerts, work.

Messages seem to have a frivolous aspect to them, even if they begin in a serious tone. Authors seem to have an aspect of literary freedom to say whatever they want and puctuate their comments however they please. I would use informal, but the lack of seriousness is beyond informal. I'm not sure that this makes much difference, but it seems to say something about tone.

Pictures on these profiles seem to show more than one person in them than there are single persons in the photos--is this a shot at anonymity?

Profile (JB)

basic

answered

relationship status

answered engaged with fiance's name

birthday

answered

hometown

answered

political views

answered

Mini-feed--

2 storied displayed

Information

Contact Info

used email address uses AIM screenname

Personal Info

Activities gives resturant's name, doesn't say if she/he works there or hangs out Interests uses slang (Shoppin), then -ing endings for others Favorite Music doesn't list any specific groups Favorite TV shows lists two Favorite Movies list 3, 2 comedy, 1 drama

Education

gives BSU gives high school name and year graduated Wall has 47 posts 7 out of 10 tell her "Happy Birthday" BSU Friends she has 40 Friends in other networks 59 Member of one group

What's not included

Basic interested in looking for residence room political views contact info mobile phone #, land phone # school mailbox address city, state country zip code website personal work courses election

As a picture, a sonogram was used. It is unknown who the fetus is, though it appears to be human. She may be pregnant, it might be her in the womb, a random shot, or something wholly other. None of the remarks on the wall comment on her picture.

there was no swearing on this site sentences were short 10-15 words comments were about a party, missing her,and a comment about a picture.

Profile MB

What's Included

Basic

sex interested in relationship status --mentions engagement and fiance's name birthday hometown liberal

Mini Feed

2 stories displayed

Information

Contact infor

email

Personal Info

Activties two businesses listed doesn't say he works at either Favorite Music lists two groups, then "anyone who friend say sound like..." Favorite TV shows lists two web addresses Favorite Movies lists one Favorite Books lists two titles Favorite Quotes lists two by famous people, one cliche

Education

lists college lists majors lists high school name and year grad

Wall lists 119 posts

Has 51 BSU friends 47 friends in other networks

Has 2 photo albums

Member of 9 groups

Wall comments regular commentor -3 times same person, comments are frivolous 5 male 5 female comments are on picture change congrats on engagement saying hello

Items Not Included

looking for residence room religious views AIM screenname About Me Contact mobile phone # land phone # School mailbox address city st country zip website personal work courses election

Profile (AG)

Includes

Basic

sex interested in relationship status looking for birthday hometown political views religious views

Mini Feed

displays 8 stories

Information

email activities shows two, initials only Interests two outdoor/two indoor Favorite Music lists several bands Favorite Movies lists 7 Favorite Quotes lists 6 two cliches four by friends AboutMe? --this turns into a rant about the criminal justice system

Education

lists BSu? 2 majors High school name and grad date

The Wall

19 posts one from herself 3 male one multi-responder female 5 female One of these uses initials so could be male or female

Has 52 BSU friends 11 in other networks Has 8 photo albums Lists three groups

Not Included

residence room mobile phone # land phone # school mailbox address city state country zip website personal work courses election

Comments

she swears--hell,fuck, fucking, bullshit Wall comments are short sentences, topics are hello, refers to a past wedding, a thank you note from herself, profile picture, a web address,

Similarities Revisited

messages seem to fall in categories

Hello

Invitations

School questions/class related

Parties

Random comments that seem frivolous (casual subject matter maybe a single-word comment

Picture comments (profile sometimes, not always)

Congrats/Thank yous

Question: Is email for serious matters and facebook for less serious? Many of the Wall comments seem to fall into the "desecration" interaction without any attempt at reconstruction. An odd thought-- a Pink Floyd moment--is this some sort of hint (for lack of a better word) at "all in all...just another brick in the wall" or maybe just coincidence

who creates facebook profiles? any who wants to take the time is my first answer. Looking for some deeper impluse or need, I'm not sure what the need is, except something to prove that one exists and somehow connects with others. I think that what bothers me is that this connecting is done at a superficial level. A level that reminds me of a frat party where alcohol has helped everyone to be friends or at least to get along. I don't see anything deep and lasting about facebook. It's all surface level. People don't tell where they live--perhaps because it's easy to find out from other sources. I'm not sure that it leads to deeper friendships.

How long do these comments stay on the wall? Will these contributors' children find them? There seems to be no concern about future consequences of their actions--verbal or physical. It all seems lighthearted, except when the contributors rant about some supposed wrong to them.

Perhaps because it's all about ME, whoever ME seems to be. This is tough for me,because I'm not particularly interested in lots of people or having lots of friends. I don't understand why some people do. At the same time, I haven't had a chance for ME in many, many years so maybe I'm out of practice.

There's no altruism in these profiles. Everything is self centered, There's no mention of kids in any of these. There's swearing and using the word fuck, but doesn't seem to be any going on. Perhaps that's one of the conventions that's not mentioned. I don't know we've only looked at a few. Perhaps we need a larger sample.

When people send messages of thanks, etc. to themselves, they become part of the audience. Is this like the borgs, people become part of one larger organism? Might be interesting to check out.

FaceBookContextGroupC