There are two main issues I aim to address in my facebook update. The first is the isolation that facebook users may feel when constantly engaging online instead of face to face with others. Not only are we spending less time with each other, but most users present a very polished and edited version of their lives to the internet. It is not uncommon to see a picture of a user taken from a particularly flattering angle (probably one that no one would ever see from), with a status depicting the perfect weekend. If you scroll down a little further you may even see a video from a cool new band. What we aren’t seeing, what is not being posted, is a picture of this person on their couch watching tv, we aren’t hearing about the huge zit that just appeared on their forehead, and we aren’t seeing the video of the (insert lame music here). We have found a way to isolate and pick and choose what parts of our lives we want people to see. This has added to the isolation that one may feel when actively using social media sites like Facebook.
The second issue is that when we read what others have written, it is often difficult to discern tone, mood, or any other speech indicator. The aural personal touch of communication is lost. Facebook has recently added a function that when a user posts a status update they can indicate how they are feeling. I suggest that we integrate an audio aspect to Facebook statuses and comments. You may receive hundreds of “happy birthday”s on Facebook but really most of them are all the same. Literally the words “happy birthday” written over and over again on your wall, to the point where it has become meaningless. With the audio addition to facebook you can hear all the different voices of friends around the world.
The way it would work is that there would be an option to voice record a comment or status and with speech to text service, the status or comment would be typed out and ready for submission. The voice would be recorded and stored by Facebook and would be accessible just by scrolling over the text.
Here’s what I mean:
(Sorry, the resolution is all wacky, i’ll show a better version in class)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoCh8c7K4Ys&feature=youtu.be
Helpful articles:
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/05/is-facebook-making-us-lonely/308930/
http://www.worldcrunch.com/culture-society/social-envy-study-finds-facebook-causes-depression-and-isolation/zuckerberg-social-network-health-depression-fb/c3s10718/
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