Facebook: Our Mutual Friend
The social media sites that I use are primarily Facebook and Instagram, and I know that they are definitely connected… A large reason why they’re connected is because I have linked my Instagram account to my Facebook. So, if I post a particular photo on Instagram, I can also share that on Facebook. However, there is a certain level of separation here because I have chosen a privacy feature that ensures I pick which instagram to share on fb. This separation probably doesn’t impact my feed all that much because most of my Instagram followers are also my friends on FB; and most of my dual-posted photos are scenic pictures. Maybe it affects my feed in that people who are equally into nature tend to like those photos on Facebook–especially mom-age people. Also, all of my really close friends will “like” the photos on both social media networks. When this happens, the photo I shared will usually stay at the top of my feed, so I guess my feed doesn’t see much of a variety of posts with this occurs (?).
My mom’s posts appear on my feed a lot because she is constantly sharing links and different information about her yoga events on Facebook. Posts by my best friends generally pop up at the top of the feed a lot too, and I believe this definitely has something to do with the fact that I “like” or comment on pictures/posts of my friends the most frequently. I wouldn’t consider myself that active on Facebook really, so when I steadily like my friends’ posts, I know that somewhere in Facebook’s data-stalking zone it is easy to track which posts I like.
As I said, I am not super active on social media. Though, I do love to take photos and post them because I just simply think it is very fun. Most of my posts are pictures of my friends and me, but I also post a fair amount of passages from books that I read that particularly strike me. Likewise, my very close friends and family react to my posts most frequently; and sometimes relatives of my friends will like/comment on things, so I am connected to them in this way through mutual friends. I’m not sure if my posts are intriguing enough to really influence people in a great way, but perhaps someone has picked up a new book to read after seeing a post of mine.
Honestly I don’t love that Facebook has access to my information, but I also understand that I literally signed up for that. In the article by the Atlantic, it mentions how technology becomes adopted and ubiquitous, which basically allows for companies and whoever using this technology to abuse its capabilities. While the article was focused on GPS tracking devices, I think it is important to realize how quickly technology spreads and how normalized it becomes. Remember when Facebook wasn’t really a thing? Probably not because we are all at the age where it has pretty much always been a thing. I know Facebook manipulates the hell out of my online shopping habits, and I suppose this is my fault for having “liked” certain clothing stores’ pages on FB. So, I am always bombarded with advertisements. How do I feel about this? Hmm, pretty annoyed, but also only half-bothered. And, really, what can I do? It is the age of invasive technology. We’re all connected somehow.
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I didn’t even think about it before, but I do see my “closest friends” posts more often at the top of my feed! I wonder if Facebook does that to keep me interested! I think it must go by who I chat with/comment on the most, so that is really interesting to think about. I do agree with you, though about how mad we can actually be since we knew what we signed up for.
I think an important aspect of the classic “should technology/social media be allowed to access your data?” debate is how the more apathetic audience feels. I’m more-or-less in the same boat, but it’s also hard to argue that getting almost instantaneous access to people all around the world wouldn’t come without a requirement of some sacrifices. On the other hand, let’s be real here, the companies whose ads are bombarding your page aren’t doing that to help you, they’re trying to boost their sales. So it’s hard to feel like we’re getting our money’s worth, so to speak, when we have to deal with stuff like that simply due to liking a page.
I think it is sort of a doubled edged sword here. We get annoyed by advertisements for things, but it is also our fault for “liking” them in the first place. We can’t blame advertisers for targeting us after that, but it also is pretty invasive. But we do live in an invasive age, like you said.
I think that is true that the people who’s posts you seem to like more tend to appear more often higher up in your feed. My grandma posts on Facebook every day and I tend to almost always like it. I guess I liked her posts so much that Facebook automatically makes sure I see her newest post first (which I didn’t even know was a feature until recently). You’re also very right, we do sign up for invasive technology so how much room do we actually have to complain. I feel that is an awesome way to think about it. Great post!