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| Status update: Who cares? | Status update: Who cares? |
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| It has never been easier to document our lives. But why would anyone share all this detail, or anyone else bother reading it? | It has never been easier to document our lives. But why would anyone share all this detail, or anyone else bother reading it? |
| Rachael Croker doesn't just see the sights as she travels around south-east Asia, she blogs them too, in order to "sound exciting". | Rachael Croker doesn't just see the sights as she travels around south-east Asia, she blogs them too, in order to "sound exciting". |
| "I want to make people a bit jealous - so, even when we're a bit down, we can see that others would love to be where we are, and we stop moaning." | "I want to make people a bit jealous - so, even when we're a bit down, we can see that others would love to be where we are, and we stop moaning." |
| Is social networking as much about promoting yourself as it is for maintaining friendships and sharing interesting things? | Is social networking as much about promoting yourself as it is for maintaining friendships and sharing interesting things? |
| Psychologist W Keith Campbell has found that narcissists are attracted to Facebook because it allows them control over their image. | Psychologist W Keith Campbell has found that narcissists are attracted to Facebook because it allows them control over their image. |
| You basically have a great sense of freedom, because you are able to offload your bio-memory, and just commit all of the facts to an e-memory Gordon Bell, who has kept every document since 1998 A life recorded in bits and bytes | You basically have a great sense of freedom, because you are able to offload your bio-memory, and just commit all of the facts to an e-memory Gordon Bell, who has kept every document since 1998 A life recorded in bits and bytes |
| "They pick attractive pictures of themselves instead of snapshots; they are more likely to have glamour shots and more self-promoting descriptions of themselves." | "They pick attractive pictures of themselves instead of snapshots; they are more likely to have glamour shots and more self-promoting descriptions of themselves." |
| Of course, not all users are self-obsessed and Campbell speculates that the generation gap, between older people who are less comfortable giving up their privacy and younger people who don't care, will become a thing of the past. | Of course, not all users are self-obsessed and Campbell speculates that the generation gap, between older people who are less comfortable giving up their privacy and younger people who don't care, will become a thing of the past. |
| "It's going mainstream - even the Pope has a Facebook page. Eventually my mum will too, and then it will be a little more normal." | "It's going mainstream - even the Pope has a Facebook page. Eventually my mum will too, and then it will be a little more normal." |
| Since the early 1990s, technology journalist Bill Thompson has updated his blogs, uploaded thousands of images to Flickr and more recently posted more than 10,000 Twitter updates. How much of each day does this take up? He doesn't know. | Since the early 1990s, technology journalist Bill Thompson has updated his blogs, uploaded thousands of images to Flickr and more recently posted more than 10,000 Twitter updates. How much of each day does this take up? He doesn't know. |
| "My life is self-documenting. As a journalist, I'm already professionally exposing myself. Now it's become seamlessly integrated into my life, so I can't separate it out. I can't live without it." | "My life is self-documenting. As a journalist, I'm already professionally exposing myself. Now it's become seamlessly integrated into my life, so I can't separate it out. I can't live without it." |
| And who is looking at all this material? There are the people you know, and the people you don't. | And who is looking at all this material? There are the people you know, and the people you don't. |
| Mostly for our mums | Mostly for our mums |
| Why won't they [bloggers] all shut up? The answer why they won't shut up is - they're not talking to you. They're talking in the private register of blogs, that confidential style between secret-and-public Danny O'Brien | Why won't they [bloggers] all shut up? The answer why they won't shut up is - they're not talking to you. They're talking in the private register of blogs, that confidential style between secret-and-public Danny O'Brien |
| Journalist and campaigner Danny O'Brien thinks that the internet is eroding the sense of "private", leaving only the public and the secret. | Journalist and campaigner Danny O'Brien thinks that the internet is eroding the sense of "private", leaving only the public and the secret. |
| "This is [why] people hate blogs so much. My God, people say, how can Livejournallers be so self-obsessed?... Why won't they all shut up?" | "This is [why] people hate blogs so much. My God, people say, how can Livejournallers be so self-obsessed?... Why won't they all shut up?" |
| Rachael Croker, who has 1,394 photos of her on Facebook, agrees that while her travel blog can be seen by everyone, it doesn't mean that she expects everyone to come and see. | Rachael Croker, who has 1,394 photos of her on Facebook, agrees that while her travel blog can be seen by everyone, it doesn't mean that she expects everyone to come and see. |
| "I think it's mostly our mums. I'm not sure who else watches - I don't know if I'd bother reading one if I was at home." | "I think it's mostly our mums. I'm not sure who else watches - I don't know if I'd bother reading one if I was at home." |
| But as it happens, the "who else" might include some interested corporations. Tom Ewing uses social media sites to research customers' views for a market research company which sells on the findings to retailers. The main benefit, he says, is not needing to pay for opinions. | But as it happens, the "who else" might include some interested corporations. Tom Ewing uses social media sites to research customers' views for a market research company which sells on the findings to retailers. The main benefit, he says, is not needing to pay for opinions. |
| "The general assumption in market research is that to get people to tell you stuff, you need to offer them something. Then social networking came along, and people started telling stuff for free. It's enormously exciting but also scary - because you never really know if someone is the person they say they are." | "The general assumption in market research is that to get people to tell you stuff, you need to offer them something. Then social networking came along, and people started telling stuff for free. It's enormously exciting but also scary - because you never really know if someone is the person they say they are." |
| The undocumented generation? | The undocumented generation? |
| Since users of social networks aren't always aware how their information is being gathered, debates about the ethics of data harvesting have begun in the market research industry - and are likely to continue. | Since users of social networks aren't always aware how their information is being gathered, debates about the ethics of data harvesting have begun in the market research industry - and are likely to continue. |
| Does anybody really care about what you are doing? | Does anybody really care about what you are doing? |
| Finally, another group which may be interested in all this information is future historians. Will they have an entire generation of Anne Franks and Samuel Pepys to use in research? | Finally, another group which may be interested in all this information is future historians. Will they have an entire generation of Anne Franks and Samuel Pepys to use in research? |
| Not necessarily, says historian Orla Power. For one thing, the technology allows us to be selective about what we keep, making the data unrepresentative of our actual lives: | Not necessarily, says historian Orla Power. For one thing, the technology allows us to be selective about what we keep, making the data unrepresentative of our actual lives: |
| "An archaeologist may uncover an envelope of photos in an attic: some of them cringeworthy; others quite flattering. If they had been digital, it is unlikely they'd all have survived: the cringeworthy ones would never have made the cut. You could say that in this case, the historical record would have been incomplete." | "An archaeologist may uncover an envelope of photos in an attic: some of them cringeworthy; others quite flattering. If they had been digital, it is unlikely they'd all have survived: the cringeworthy ones would never have made the cut. You could say that in this case, the historical record would have been incomplete." |
| And for another, says Dr Power, however accommodating it is now, we shouldn't assume that the net will store our data for generations to come: | And for another, says Dr Power, however accommodating it is now, we shouldn't assume that the net will store our data for generations to come: |
| "Unfortunately, paper appears to survive much better than digital data does. In the long run, this may cause this generation to be the least documented in the history of humankind." | "Unfortunately, paper appears to survive much better than digital data does. In the long run, this may cause this generation to be the least documented in the history of humankind." |
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