LAB+4

//__**Lab Assignment 4 ***__//

Facebook/Twitter – connect or disconnect?

Facebook connects people. As a social networking device, there are many opportunities for people to keep in touch, and also get in touch with other individuals; whether for daily interaction, or to reconnect with those they have not been in contact with or seen in years – such as primary school friends. Functions such as the search bar, news feed, wall posts, and others are all applications to help link populations. Programs created especially to associate people include the suggestions which remind people who they haven't been in touch with for a while, and suggest you 'share the latest news' with them by encouraging some type of interaction e.g. to write on their wall. In addition, instead of connecting people, Facebook also brings people to you. With software such as friend requests and friend suggestions of people who you share mutual friends with, Facebook is convenient for bringing people together. Overall, the objectives of Facebook is to connect people, and that is what it does. With an identical goal, Twitter is also good at uniting people. Although using a different method, Twitter allows people to follow and observe each others daily activities. Thus, even when it is not as direct as Facebook, it is undeniable that Twitter connects people.

In contrast, Facebook and Twitter can also disconnect people. These social networks start to act as a substitute for contacting people in other ways e.g. instead of calling or texting each other, they 'poke' each other instead. This takes away the normality in staying connected, and these sites are not a place for conversation. In instances it can be very obnoxious, as it can suggest people who you do not want to be in touch with. There is no intimacy on Facebook or Twitter. It is not a social foundation for people to stay in contact with. Although it allows people to get in touch, it does not act as a device to stay in touch. Thus, Facebook and Twitter connects people, but this does not mean they stay connected. As a communication system, it completes its aims and objectives, but that is as far as it can go – connecting people depends on the people themselves.