[Air-L] facebook, twitter and annoyances

[Liz]

I appreciate your analysis, Sam, but, as with most categorizations, I think these are more tendencies than gender absolutes. 

The element that puzzles me the most about Twitter especially is--if you look at comments on technology blogs--its mere existence annoys some people. They always bring out the comment "I don't care what you had for lunch" or "I don't care about your cat" when participating is, for most people, completely voluntary and you control whose messages you see. 

I don't understand why it hits a nerve with some individuals and they simply loathe it when there is no necessity to utilize it. I mean, I don't like computer games so I don't play them. I don't go on a tirade about them and don't belittle those who enjoy them. I need to do some background reading on why people get emotional about technology.

Liz Pullen
nwjerseyliz at yahoo.com



________________________________
From: Sam Ladner <samladner at gmail.com>
To: aoir list <air-l at aoir.org>
Sent: Sun, November 1, 2009 11:20:34 AM
Subject: Re: [Air-L] facebook, twitter and annoyances

I have done some writing on digital self management. I believe we're
actually dealing with a new form of social interaction and also a new form
of self-governance.

If we were to be systematic about this Facebook inquiry, I imagine we might
find:

* Selves "post" on Facebook as a way of managing identity. Impression
management is complicated by the multiplicity of "fronts" (in Goffman's
sens) on Facebook

* Gender mediates not the topic but the nuance of the post

* (Hypothesis): women post in accordance with expectations of managing
household responsibilities, "taking care" or nurturing those in the
household, showing an interest or mastery of household members' preferences
or medical needs

* (Hypothesis) men post in accordance with expectations of dominance over a
field of knowledge, showing a mastery of masculinized food activities such
as "gourmet" pursuits or barbequeing

* Both genders engage in impression management while at the same time
participating in similar topics (e.g., food)

* The projection of self through text, photo and other media, is a new skill
that will increasingly be required as more and more of our lives become
mediated by "posting" and more and more confused, multi-front virtual
locations emerge