Presentation

The Introduction of Understanding Facebook

Throughout studying six profiles, identifyable patterns were found with Facebook regarding context, content, and purpose of use. I draw on the understanding that Facebook is a tool that is difficult to define as a whole because of the differences and similarities ofthe personality, intention, and behavior each user possesses.

Conformity

Through Context identified from The Wall, there are norms and expectations between the audience and the rhetor.

1.Format

Facebook is set up to organize every profile the same way. The layout of all 6 profiles were the same. The freedom and flexibility Facebook gives to users is how much each individual would like to add on their profile to display to others.

User Freedom: Pick and Choose

Limited

Unlimited

The News Feed

The news feed is impulsive and doesn't give users an option to exit out of when they sign onto their profile. It reports any activity about the user to the user's friends, and in turn reports friends activity back to the user when either party interacts on Facebook.

FEEDME

General Info.

   - Religious Views
   - Current Residence
   - Political Views
   - Birthday
   - Hometown
   - Looking For
   - Sex
   - Relationship Status

Contact Information

   - Mobile Phone
   - Land Phone
   - School Mailbox
   - Address
   - Website
   - Email address
   - AIM Screenname

Personal Information

   - Activities
   - Interests
   - Favorite Music
   - Favorite TV Shows
   - Favorite Movies
   - Favorite Books
   - Favorite Quotes
   - About Me

Education

   - College
     - Where
     - Year Graduating
     - Attending For
   - High School
     - Where
     - Year Graduated  

2.Posts

Intentions of Posts:

Common Topics

    -Visiting 
    -Birthday Wishes-involving 2/6 individuals
    -Weekend Plans
    -Event Plans
    -Previous Conversations
    -Unknown Subjects
    -Picture Comments 
    -How Subject is Feeling
    -How Subject is doing

Grabing Attention Through punctuation, the words of some posts became loaded with expression.

    -"Hey!"
    -"I LIKE TO POOP"
    -"sooooo"
    -"LA POLLITA!!!!!!!!!!"
    -"I TOTALLY"
    -"Holy Crap"
    -"UNDER WEAR"
    -"psycho!!!!!!!!!"

Keeping Attention Some posts included symbols or order and over usage of punctuation; possibly intended to decorate words, posts, or to further convey emotions the commentor is feeling about the topic of the post.

     -"Me in Dark"
     -"Hey Al~!"
     -"attention!! ;)"
     -"its school :)"
     -"old BK :)"
     -"wednesday...boo..."
     -"...Yikes!"
     -"hmm..."

Length Tacking on links or listed web addresses to sites pertaining to the post provide the rhetor to learn more without having to get to wordy with the post about a certain subject

     -Fragmented sentences

Most posts include fragmented sentences, except TS-2 posts were wordy and long Both cover a lot of ground about what is being planned for an event, school, concerts, ideas and rambling sarcasm.

     -Punctuation

Most sentences in posts don't end or begin with grammatical correctness.

Non-Participation

"Choosing non-participation may work for a rhetor by causing the audience to revisit its assumptions about the topics of the discourse, or causing it to rethink the arguments it has accepted for the status quo."-p.62 Stoner/Perkins

Rhetor Choices

       -Information: Each individual has a choice of what

information they are willing to divulge to their audience.

       -Groups: Each individual has a choice on what groups

they want to become members of and associate their identity with.

       -Friends: Each individual has a choice on who they

want to claim as their friend, why-through confirming facts about how they became friends with that person, and who they want to be associated with.

       -Profile Photos & Albums: Each individual has a choice of 

whether or not they even want to display pictures of themselves.

Desecration

A clear intent to disrupt and push the boundaries of Facebook

Report Him!

       -The rhetors of Facebook have the opportunity to report

someone for something displayed of offense to them or others. Like everything in life, boundaries must be pushed. The saying,"I gave her an inch, and she took a mile." reminds me of this. Those boundaries are being challenged by Facebook users.

Obscene Language

        -Below are good examples of a rhetor pushing towards boundaries.

AG swears: fuck & fucking are a reoccuring pair. AG defames: calling the MN D.O.C corrupt, little maggots.

JW swears: fucking

        -Examples of commentors pushing boundaries

V KDM: commentor defines "chode" explaining that one of its meanings is: A penis which is wider than it is long

TS: commentor describes the speed of his bonor from grinding on 50 year old chicks at a bar, and trying to calculate it for physic's class.

Contextual Reconstruction

When the text goes into discourse, essentially it can be restructed to give that violation relevence and reason.

         -Going back to desecration, I can see the contextual

reconstruction that gives AG relevence for stating what she did about the MN D.O.C.

AG- Family importance- she reconstructs that previous context by stating how she will never leave her family's side-even if that means her visiting prison numerous times, vomiting in the visiting room, and having to bail her brother from jail.

JW- Life- she gives using the word "fucking" relevence by stating that she likes to go out and have a good time because life's too fucking short not too, right?

            -Commentors Contextual Reconstruction in the same

light as the rhetor.

V KDM's commentor: provides relevence for defining "chode" because she also includes its other multipurpose meanings as a duplicate term for the taint (perineum) and she adds humor by saying she was still dying laughing.

In Conclusion

Facebook provides opportunities for the rhetor and audience to interact on a number of contextual levels. There are boundaries, but the violators of those boundaries seemly have a point to be made, by providing us with that contextual reconstruction. Facebook also offers the ability for its users to express themselves to the extent of their choosing. Lastly, it is a circuit board for sharing information between the rhetor and their audience.