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4.3 Communicating Through Social Media

Facebook

If you have not used Facebook, it can be difficult to understand. Using Facebook is not like
transforming a paper diary into digital text and putting it on the web, as with a blog. Instead,
it is an entirely new communication environment. Websites such as Friendster and Myspace
originally defined this genre of web applications. Friendster no longer exists, and Facebook
has now trampled Myspace to become the leading social networking site (Chaffey, 2016).

So, what is Facebook, exactly? Facebook (which can be found at http://www.facebook.com)
originated in 2004. This free web application allows you to find people you know and request
to add them as friends (“friend” them), allowing you to communicate and share information
with each other. Each user gets a personal profile and “timeline,” where she or he can post
public messages—called status updates—and share photos, videos, and web links. You can
also post public messages on a friend’s timeline, comment and “react” to posts using emojis,
and “tag” your friends in posts, which
lets them know you’re posting about
them. Your customizable news feed
will highlight your friends’ activities
for you, as well as upcoming events
and other information.

But Facebook’s features do not end
there. You can use Facebook to live
chat, send private messages, orga-
nize events, create or join groups,
live stream yourself or an event, fol-
low pages that interest you, and blog.
Regardless, it is important to remem-
ber that almost everything you do on Facebook is visible to all of your friends.

If, on Facebook, you complain about your coworkers to your friends or disclose family secrets
to your coworkers, everyone in your network can read it. Bad behavior on Facebook can have
real-world consequences. For example, there have been cases of colleges rejecting a student’s
application based on inappropriate postings on Facebook. Use your privacy settings to adjust
what shows up on your timeline and who can see posts that you’re tagged in. Facebook also
allows you to select your audience when you make a post—is your post for the broader pub-
lic, only your Facebook friends, or only a few specific friends? Even so, as a general rule, it is
good to remember that if you post something on Facebook, there are no secrets.

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