Facebook: Medium for the Masses?

Aimee LauENG 742 Final Project

The Trio of Creators…Mark Zuckerberg

Dustin Moskovitz

Chris Hughes

From “one man in his bedroom,” incensed by the brutality towards Columbian citizens, to “millions in

the streets” (Kirkpatrick, 2010, p.7)

A Medium for the Masses???

Setting the Scene…Writing in a Period of Oppression

Media = Propaganda

Media = Propaganda?

Facebook as an Alternative for the Masses?

WWWBD??What Would Walter Benjamin Do?

(Or Say?)

Taking a Look at Voices

From

The Past

Walter Benjamin (1892 – 1940)“mechanical reproduction substitutes a

plurality of copies for a unique existence”

Facebook – a unique medium with an aura?

“To pry an object from its shell, to destroy its aura, is the mark of a

perception whose “sense of the universal equality of things” has increased to such a degree that it extracts it even from a

unique object by means of reproduction”

Theodor Adorno (1903 – 1969)Max Horkheimer (1895 – 1973)

“The triumph of advertising in the culture industry is that consumers feel compelled to buy and use its products even though they see through them”

Facebook:A Medium

of Control??

But…the questionremains

still….

Who is in control??

Hans Magnus Enzenberger

1929 - present

Once a member of the Hitler Youth…

“for the first time in history, the media are making possible mass participation in a

social and socialized productive process, the practical means of which are in the hands of

the masses themselves”

Now…a cautious consumer, suggesting potential pragmatic media value:

Facebook: Facilitator of Discursive Exchanges?

Voices from the Past…

Media Pessimism & Cautious Support

Current Perspectives….

Similar Viewpoints or Wholehearted Support?

Positive Perspectives

Connecting People in Ways Never Imagined Before

Positive Perspectives

The National School Board Association (2007) suggests using social networking sites is an emerging

trend, as “more than one in five districts (22%) say their classrooms are involved in creating or

maintaining wikis, websites that allow visitors to add, remove, or edit content” (p.5).

Negative Perspectives

PrivacyIssues

CyberBullying

Phoebe Prince: Cyber-bullied & committed suicide

As members of society, it is up to us, to an extent, to choose a trajectory for Facebook, monitoring our own individual uses.

Perhaps, as Benjamin would suggest, Facebook could be a unique presence in society, one not just with an aura of

uniqueness, but of positivity used for the good of others.

End CreditsGroup: Muse

Song: Uprising

Lyrics:

Paranoia is in bloom, The PR transmission will resume, They’ll try to push drugs that keep us all dumbed down, And hope that

we will never see the truth around (So come on..)

Another promise, another scene, Another packaged lie to keep us trapped in greed, And all the green belts wrapped around

our minds, And endless red tape to keep the truth confined (So come on)

Refrain:They will not force us, They will stop degrading us, They will not

control us, We will be victorious (So come on)(continued on next slide)

End CreditsGroup: Muse

Song: UprisingInterchanging mind control, Come let the revolution take its toll, If you could flick a switch and open your third eye, You’d see that, We should

never be afraid to die (So come on)

Rise up and take the power back, Its time the fat cats had a heart attack, You know their time’s coming to an end, We have to unify and watch our

flag ascend

Refrain:They will not force us, They will stop degrading us, They will not control

us, We will be victorious, So come on

Refrain:They will not force us, They will stop degrading us, They will not control

us, We will be victorious.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8KQmps-Sog&feature=related

End CreditsSpecial Thanks to:

Ali G.(Fellow grad student who suggested this song when I was having trouble finding a song that really fit this

presentation!)

Google Images

And, of course…..

All the included scholars fortheir valuable perspectives!