The virtual social network has a range of policy rules and guidelines. One major policy for Facebook is that there is to be NO abuse. This may include abusive messages; whether they are public or private. If abuse is witnessed on the Facebook online network than individual's have the right to report the abuse. This can be done by following the guidelines of the following: https://www.facebook.com/help/212722115425932. Consequences of reporting abuse can result in individual's Facebook profile to be shut down and also depending on the circumstances it can be taken further by contacting the police. (As I have stated in my previous blog Building aspects of space and place cyber bullying has an significant impact on depowering an individuals sense of belonging.) Therefore Facebook tries to enable help for those who are experiencing abuse and Cyber bullying. Another important feature of the social network is when you are setting up a Facebook account EVERYONE is obliged to accept the terms and policies before being accepted as a Facebook member https://www.facebook.com/page_guidelines.php
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| Image 1: Statement of Rights and responsibilities |
Within the social network of Facebook particular language abbreviations have been used on Facebook such as 'PM' which refers to private message. This sort of abbreviations is visualised in comments on statuses where individuals request for a PM (private message); this is required so that information can be given privately instead of publicly. "Free writing is free form writing" (DiYanni, 2005, pp.21) which can include colloquial language; Robert DiYanni (2005,pp.7) states "there are as many styles, in fact, as essayists, for each essayist of distinction develops his or her own style, finding a voice and tone appropriate to the topic, audience, and situation that occasioned the writing of each essay." Therefore the use of language abbreviations and colloquial language creates an acceptable behaviour within the social network of Facebook as it is a form of genre; as "a blog is a personal diary" (McNeill, 2011, pp. 319).
References
DiYanni, R. (2005). Introduction: Reading and writing essays, in twenty-five great essays (pp. 1-30). New York, NY: Penguin Academics.
McNeill, L. (2011).Diary 2.0?: A genre moves from page to screen, in Rowe, C. &Wyss, E.L. (Eds.) Language and new media: Linguistic, cultural, and technological evolutions. (pp. 313-325). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton.
Van Luyan, A. (2013). BA1002: Our Space: Networks narratives and making of place. Lecture 6:Genre. [power point slides]. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au
Image 1: Statement of rights and responsibilities. Retrieved from http://images.search.conduit.com/ImagePreview/?q=facebook+rights+and+responability+&ctid=CT3245481&SearchSource=53&FollowOn=true&PageSource=Results&SSPV=&CUI=UN42257247402125933&UP=&UM=1&start=0&pos=0
ReplyDeleteGabrielle,
You state, "Facebook is a large socially connected online genre", which got me thinking. Yes, Facebook is large, yes it is socially connected, yes it is online, but what genre is it really? Blogs have been likened to the diary genre, and like blogs, I propose that Facebook is also closely related to that same genre. The major difference of course is the networking aspect of Facebook. If we can surmise that the only real difference between a blog and Facebook is the interconnectedness between author and reader, then perhaps Facebook is in fact little more than an internet diary, with some bells and whistles. After all, the internet diary "is a genre overwritten with current and traditional expectations and needs of its users" (McNeill, 2013, p.323).
Rowe, C., & Wyss, E. L. (2009). Language and new media: Linguistic, cultural, and technological evolutions. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.