It seems that most of posts have continued to focus on control in one respect or another. Actually, I think my view of control has expanded through the readings and class discussions. My first question five weeks ago was "Do we ever really have control?" At that point, I was really thinking about it from a very basic level -- the individual. But now I realize that it's sort of loaded question because there are so many facets to consider when we talk about control. For example, although I feel like lose a little bit of control every time I post to Facebook, I didn't think of Facebook itself is as a very controlling entity. My information, as long as my privacy settings are set, is not open to everyone on the web. As Stross states the internet is actually "more social" than Facebook because people can easily access information without "friending" someone first.
My other question focused on the future impact of the life online. If you public posted potentially embarrassing or harmful information about yourself or others online, would there be any repercussions (e.g. would you get fired or not hired at all if this information was discovered?) While this is an intriguing question, a new question have emerged. I was struck by the reporter's quote in the Digtal Nation video we saw last week. It was something along the lines of the web allows us to be "together alone or alone together". Social media allow us to be social online in so many ways – joining groups or communities of interest, tweeting and re-tweeting, posting comments on blogs, walls, etc. My new question is what motivates some people to be social and others to not be social within the same groups or communities? What about the lurkers?
image via: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/participation_inequality.html
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