Comments on: The Many Feelings of Facebook

By: Friday Roundup: February 8, 2013 » The Editors' Desk

Friday Roundup: February 8, 2013 » The Editors' Desk — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 16:01:56 +0000

[…] drone attacks), the low-tech quantified life, developing a game about unnoticed expiration, and how feelings and Facebook are never […]

By: In Their Words » Cyborgology

In Their Words » Cyborgology — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 16:15:03 +0000

[…] “Facebook is not *doing* anything to society” […]

By: jennydavis

jennydavis — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 02:49:42 +0000

I think you hit it on the head with “part of some larger, admittedly complex causal nexus.” Of course materiality matters, but not deterministically so. Moreover, material objects (in this case, the Facebook platform) are rooted in extant material conditions, as well as structural, cultural, and human propensities, strengths, weaknesses, and systems of meaning (see my earlier post using Schraube’s concept of technology as materialized action: http://thesocietypages.org/cyborgology/2012/07/31/the-body-as-materialized-action-full-essay/)

By: jennydavis

jennydavis — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 02:44:25 +0000

Thanks for adding those, Jessica. Those are all great pieces and useful. What makes them strong is their recognition of variation in usage patterns and concomitant outcomes.

I am still inclined, however, to understand the relationship as mutually influential. For instance, people with low self-esteem may primarily consume Friends content, decreasing emotional well-being, and further preventing them from active engagement in the future.

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 02:41:11 +0000

I think it is worth (cautiously) reviving PJ’s borrowing of Aristotle’s four causes to discuss the role of guns in instances of gun related violence. The material cause, in this case the social media platform, while rarely the most significant, is nonetheless a part of some larger, admittedly complex causal nexus. When one walks away from FB feeling depressed or elated, they may have had a prior propensity, but those immediate instances of depression or elation were in some sense triggered or precipitated by their experience on FB. So while it may be more problematic to talk about FB as the cause of “loneliness” in general, it seems entirely plausible to talk about FB as a (material, at least) cause of particular instances of emotion, be they positive or negative.

By: jvitak

jvitak — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 02:24:08 +0000

Check out Steinfield, Ellison & Lampe (2008) for some initial causal findings regarding self-esteem and social capital outcomes over a one-year period of use (https://www.msu.edu/~nellison/Steinfield_Ellison_Lampe(2008).pdf). In addition, longitudinal work Moira Burke and colleagues using server data and surveys has established that, over time, Facebook Friends who engage in directed communication (vs. broadcasting messages) report increases in their perceptions of bridging social capital over time (see http://www.thoughtcrumbs.com/publications/burke_chi2011_socialcapitalonfacebook.pdf)

By: Callan

Callan — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 01:46:00 +0000

Hmmm… it seems that using Facebook and other social media *could* offer wallflowers a potentially stress-reducing opportunity to observe or passively participate in a social gathering-type environment from a safe distance. Kind of like watching a party or group through a one-way mirror.

But, maybe some of the distress wallflowers experience with the situation stems from unequal expectations — real or imagined — that other users might have for them regarding participation in the network. The more introverted folk at parties, or on Facebook, etc., may feel a pressure to contribute something, anything, to what’s going on around them — and/or are sometimes admonished for not doing so, in turn amplifying the initial distress…

By: jennydavis

jennydavis — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 16:27:32 +0000

Great point!! And I think this speaks to the notion that for one person, facebook (and parties) are at times energizing and at times distressing. I would be surprised if causation arrow was ever unidirectional

By: nathanjurgenson

nathanjurgenson — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 15:35:56 +0000

would also like to point out that what facebook *does* assumes a causal ordering. we don’t know in a cross-sectional analysis if facebook or the party *caused* wallflowering or distress, it might also be that some people are distressed, and that follows them at parties and on facebook. some people are depressed, anxious, narcissistic etc, and those people will behave as such at parties and on facebook. so it might not be that clicking “like” will make you feel less distressed, it might be that distress makes you less likely to click “like.”