Is the boomi
ng social media giant becoming a thing of the past? ‘Cause my older relatives are certainly into it. In Part Two of Tales From Facebook, Daniel Miller discusses the importance of Facebook as a community building tool and the implications surrounding the phenomenon of “netiquette”.
Netiquette is defined as the do’s and don’ts of online manners. The real issue at hand, though, is that different communities and different generations within those very same communities often have entirely different conceptions of what is or isn’t polite Internet behavior.
Within the past few years, younger generations have been migrating from the social scene of Facebook to populate other mediums such as Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat. This is not all to do with the fact that these are new and shiny applications. As the average age of Facebook users has climbed dramatically in recent years, younger folks are looking for a little breathing room.
Articles such as Teens Loathe Facebook Because of All the Old People and Baby Pics are perfect demonstrations of the trend. Instead of a platform for issues and events we actually give a damn about, anyone who’s friends with just about anyone in their family knows the grief of sifting through thousands of step-cousin baby picture shares and comic strips their grandparents happened to find amusing throughout the day.
In a response to “then why don’t you just defriend them?” Such tension, you don’t even know. My cousin defriended my father on Facebook a few years ago and he was so unbelievably offended. The rules concerning who we are expected to allow into our digital worlds is constantly evolving, making proper “netiquette” quite a difficult undertaking. As older generations continue to migrate into the social media realm, it will certainly be interesting to see how their younger kin — as well as the social media industry — react (or revolt).