For my Unit 3 paper, I would like to discuss how Weinberger’s arguments concerning order are connected to Facebook, and more specifically Facebook “friends”. It seems as if the definition of friendship changes from the physical world to the virtual world of Facebook. I would discuss how initially, Facebook only classified friends by what network they belonged to, and on a user’s profile, only friends in the same network as the user would appear on the profile. As the site has developed, however, Facebook users could view their friends in different ways; alphabetically, who has updated their profile most recently, who has updated their “status” most recently, who was the last person added as a friend, who the user went to college with, etcetera. Facebook has now also added the ability to sort one’s friends into lists based on how whatever criteria the users wants, such as “friends from home” or “people I met on vacation in Washington”. This gives the user unlimited room to classify his or her friends. On each user’s public profile, the site randomly pulls up six “friends” that are in the same main network as the user, and also shows the person viewing whether or not they have friends in common. However, with the addition of applications, a “Top Friends” application was added, and those who have downloaded it can order their friends publicly, regardless of what network they belong to.
Weinberger’s opinions of order are definitely applicable. With the latest upgrade to the site, Facebook users can classify their friends based on their personal references instead of following predetermined criteria. Furthermore, the “Top Friends” application requires users to place their friends in order. But based on what? Most commonly assume that it’s whoever the user is closest to, but this does not always have to be the case. Perhaps users want to put their friends in order of how long they’ve known them, or whose profile they visit the most. Several discussions of order that Weinberger has can be found in Facebook friends.
There are two possible fields of academia that I can consult to do research. The first is the obvious field of technology, because were it not for the internet, sites like Facebook would not exist at all. The other field that has potential to provide me with sources is psychology. It would be interesting to see how people prefer things to be in order, and if this has any connection to how they order their friends on a social networking site. One source that could possibly be helpful is an article called “Checking Out Facebook.com: The Impact of a Digital Trend on Academic Libraries” by Laurie Charnigo and Paula Barnett-Ellis. It describes some ways that Facebook users interact with one another. However, I feel that the most useful source will be Facebook itself, and personally viewing how friends can be ordered.
