My Thesis is Out!

I officially hold a Master's degree! Be sure to check out my thesis, entitled "La Vida Online: The Parallel Public Sphere of Facebook as Used by Colombian Immigrant Women in Atlanta."

You can download it here: http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/anthro_theses/52/

I am so very excited. Thank you to everyone for their support!

Social Media Isolates People?

Corey just sent me this article on the backlash of the academic community towards social media:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jan/22/social-networking-cyber-scepticism-twitter

Facebook Privacy for Dummies

There has been an increasing backlash in the media, among academics, and my own friends regarding the information that people disseminate on Facebook. It harkens to a social fear surrounding privacy and the over-sharing of personal information. While I will be the first to admit that social media is increasingly problematic, I think it can also be empowering to many people in a variety of ways.

On that note, I want to laugh and yell at the same time whenever I see people complaining about Facebook and, yet, they have enacted NONE of the privacy settings available to them. While nothing posted on Facebook is completely "safe" there are certain precautions you can take to limit who can view your information and profile.

MA's Guide to Privacy on Facebook:

1. In the upper right corner on Facebook, click "Account" and select "Privacy Settings" from the drop down menu.

2. Start with the first option, "Connecting on Facebook," and click on the hyperlink "Account Settings." This section allows you to control who sees the type of information you share on Facebook.

3. Select the information you want certain people to see, from the most restricted (selecting "only friends" for every option) to the most open (selecting "everyone" for every option"). My current settings allow everyone to search for me or send me messages but the rest of my information is restricted to friends only.

4. Once completed, click on the button at the top that says "Back to Privacy."

5. The "Sharing on Facebook" section contains more detailed privacy settings.

6. To edit these settings, select "Custom" from the blue side bar and then click the small, blue hyperlink that says "Custom Settings."

7. You may now go through and edit each one of the options by selecting who is allowed to view your pictures, posts, and comments, as well as who can interact with you on Facebook and how.

Stay tuned for version 2 of Facebook privacy when we will discuss how you can organize groups of friends and select which group can see what. This is an ideal function if you have Facebook friends who are co-workers, bosses, professors, parents, etc.

Is Honesty the Best Policy?

So I was trying to think of things to write that would be more interesting and I realized, my blog is pretty freakin' boring. You know why? Because I don't really say everything I'm feeling or experiencing. I'm not saying I should include absolutely everything on mind, but I think I try to control my virtual identity too much.

While doing my thesis research, I've discovered that the women I'm interviewing have some interesting thoughts regarding their identities on social media. When asked if they represent their "true" selves on Facebook, each one has always answered "yes." However, one of my interviewees stated that she thinks that people represent their true selves online but they choose which aspects to represent and which to leave out. For example, this woman stated that she only chooses to display aspects of her personality and life that appear exciting, interesting, and nice. I feel like this on my blog.

I don't write about my super crappy days that reflect negatively on me. Sure I write about bad things that are out of my control, but not issues that may be my fault (struggling in my marriage, feeling like I'm failing in my academic pursuits, etc.). Therefore, I've come to the conclusion that maybe I should be a little more honest on here. The blogs I enjoy reading are often brutally honest, not ones that make the author's life appear perfectly put together. That being said, we'll see how this goes on my next blog post (which hopefully will come before three months!).

Research Inspiration

One of the inspirations for my social media research is Jenny Ryan's The Virtual Campfire.

This site is the digital version of her thesis research:

Based on five years of participant-observation on the social networking sites MySpace, Facebook, and Tribe.net, The Virtual Campfire explores the increasingly blurred boundaries between human and machine, public and private, voyeurism and exhibitionism, the history of media and our digitized future. Woven throughout are the stories and experiences of those who engage with these sites regularly and ritualistically, the generation of "digital natives" whose tales attest to the often strange and uncomfortable ways online social networking sites have come to be embedded in the everyday lives of American youth.

Check it out: http://www.thevirtualcampfire.org/

Check Out This Blog

So Corey and I started a new blog that is currently entitled "Stuff My Family Says" until we can come up with a more original name. Check it out: http://stuffmyfamilysays.blogspot.com.

Home Sweet Home... Almost

So Tim and I just bought our first home! Very exciting! The whole process moved quite fast because the house had been on the market for a while and the owner was eager to sell (like all houses in this market, I'm sure). There had only been one owner who purchased the house new in the 1950s. He passed away a couple of years ago and left the house to his neighbor who had been taking care of him. The neighbor works with horses and needed money to build a new horse barn and, therefore, was eager to sell the house. We got an amazing deal on it and it's in a great location. Here's the kicker: it needs a lot of work! At first glance, the house is definitely in livable condition. However, we have problems with moisture in the crawl space and some other issues. Tim has remained positive and is working with his dad to find the best solutions to these problems. I'm so thankful to have a husband who is so open minded and such a hard worker. He was so worried that I wouldn't want a fixer-upper, but, honestly, I couldn't imagine getting any other type of house. I'm very excited to move in! Our lease on our apartment is up March 20, so it has to be before then. Hopefully we'll start moving in by the end of February. I'll keep you posted on the process!