Facebook profiles as literary genre

November 22, 2008

In a session about the public profile as a literary genre. The presenter is talking about Facebook, and she mentioned it’s origins. I guess her son went to the Ivy league, so she truly knows where this all began. There are about 75-100 people in here, and I am concerned about the “random” public profiles she’s pulled up here in the session. And as I type this, I know that this is the point to part of this presentation.

Students understand that employers will look at their FaceBook, but they don’t think their MySpace profiles are viewed. She said MySpace is “raunchier” and she was surprised that older people are the largest group on MySpace, but I didn’t think this was surprising. There are voyeurs who search for the spectacle and they find it. Some people create one FaceBook or MySpace with their real name for employer’s to find while they create a second account for their “real” stuff.

She uses FaceBook for her classes, too. She posts everything from her BlackBoard or Angel CMS classes to FaceBook, too because the kids are there. They barely log in elsewhere (i.e., they’d prefer to be somewhere more social). Teachers use to just want to be the sage on the stage, but being on places like FaceBook make undergraduates feel the professors are more accessible. We, teachers, were never their friends before. Now they engage with us more when we are “human”.

I personally have a FaceBook account, and I made it to better connect with my students. We were in Europe together and most of the student travelers with me had accounts. My wife and I set up accounts immediately. I know my audience, and even though I also connect with colleagues, family and friends there, I do keep it completely PG. I sometimes let my political or religious proclivities emerge there, but they are subtle and innocent.

Posted in conferences, culture, NCTE, presentations, technology