Facebook has been around for long enough now to feel like just another aspect of the media landscape to those of us who are regular users. But for a long time I’ve been taken by the idea that there is something about Facebook that is, somehow, strangely literary.
Like writing itself, Facebook is both contemplative and frantic; it encourages paranoia (What? Did she de-friend me?) and spying (Who are his friends anyway?) while at the same time enabling sharing and networking.
Despite the fact that the platform is capable of hosting all manner of media, it is the Status Update -- or whatever they call it now -- that reigns over the Kingdom of Facebook, and it’s the Clever Status Update (with its attendant deluge of comments) that is Facebook at its most literary.
The status update offers a direct channel into the thoughts of my Facebook friends who are writers, as well as allowing real-time monitoring of their capacity for diversion and procrastination.
Here’s a random sample of writers’ updates that have come my way of late: They range from the beguiling "what does memory look like?" to the concrete poetics of "sun sun sun and me = work work work – will it ever end?" to the amusing "this morning's work involves going back to bed to read a book. heh," and the desperate "today I wrote 1000 words before lunch; after lunch I read what I wrote and then deleted it."
Digital artists and writers have attempted to coopt Facebook for their own creative purposes, using it to find new ways to tell stories. In 2007, for instance, artist Kate Armstrong created the Facebook application "Why Some Dolls Are Bad," enabling users to create captioned photo-stories using randomized texts and photographs. This was a popular application that allowed early adopters to play with creating stories, as well as encouraging us to think hard about the storytelling potential for social networks.
However, Facebook management, while encouraging this kind of innovation by promoting Facebook as an open development platform, has also had a hand in destroying innovation, with their virtually unannounced redesigns that break this and other story-telling applications like it, rendering them unusable overnight.
Until Facebook pays more heed to informing its users about changes, it’s hard to see why any writer would continue to try to innovate using the platform; for the time being, we’ll stick to the status update.
Of course, with the growth of Twitter many updates are now actually Tweets; and for awhile, I worried that the proliferation of Tweets -- mine included -- all over my Facebook pages would drive out the Zen-like atmosphere engendered by the random juxtaposition of updates.
But it’s usually easy to separate the Tweets from the actual Facebook updates; if you look closely, there’s a definite difference of tone and mood, with “RT@#" Tweets tending toward information, and updates remaining elliptical, soft-focus, and often downright sweet. One writer I know "is good at going backwards slowly," while another "bears it out even to the edge of doom."
It’s possible to make a writerly impact on Facebook without posting updates; instead some writers allow us access to their literary lives through the friends they make, the events they attend, and the groups they join. One doyen of the New York Downtown scene is attending "BOMB and Granta’s BookExpo BlowOut Bash," became a Fan of the Housing Works Bookstore Café, and joined The Literary Review -- and I was able to watch her progress through the literary landscape from afar.
— Kate Pullinger, works both in print and new media. Her most recent novels include A Little Stranger (2006), Weird Sister (1999), and the short-story collection, My Life as a Girl in a Men's Prison (1997).
You weren't joking, James! Your fb account was disabled - disappeared without a trace!... I just couldn't figure out why fb has to ban an account for just commenting or making a note or two on one's own posts. Well, I hope you get re-instated soon... otherwise, looking back at some of my fb posts, it looks like I was talking to myself or self-commenting cos all your comments on them are gone. fb bots must be crazy or malfunctioned or something! ...(that was not very "literary scene" of facebook)...
Viboons, Makes sure to include within facebookdynamics "How to avoid fb bot censorship". My account was disabled finally after receiving a warning for commenting on my own post. I don't think the fb bots have ascii/unicode parsing then comprehend capabilities of Pong!
Maybe Zuckerberg can use "His business cards once famously read: i'm ceo ... b****" spunky humor and understanding with a touch of supposed arrogance to weigh against my censored yammer as a mere member of fb in getting me re-instated? FAT CHANCE I know..but it is hypocrisy! He can have that on his business cards (of course he's the chief) but I can't yap to my liking on my own post..a simple comment! (okay I'm not even an Indian feather..no disrespect to American Indians..just making a reference to "Chiefs and Indians")
Maybe the powerpuff girls can assist in me defeating JUSTLY Zuckerberg's(sorry to call him out) so over-genius that it's dumbfound pet monkey assistant.
Haha.. Exactly, JWallace! The world of facebook is a fascinating place to explore (maybe I overstate that a bit but..). Value of the "like" in the fb realm is equivalent to the value of "smile" in the real world - a great unlimited resource that costs virtually nothing. :)
Btw, the DNN site seems still "experiencing technical difficulties." - too much traffic, right?
Viboons, Turning observation into "Facebook Dynamics" eh? chapter x/Preface, Value of the 'like'!! ;-)
"virtually unannounced redesigns that break this and other story-telling applications like it, rendering them unusable overnight."
That seems to be a common scenarios when modular ecosystem supporting frameworks upgrade. In the realm of the DotNetNuke Opensource web application framework, I've experienced this "issue" when taking leaps in major iteration releases, the most recent being the giant step to the highy anticipated "Cambrian" DNN v5.1. When successful, the benefits OUTWEIGH the slight and temporary inconvenience(s) greatly.
Really REALLY enjoyed your blog Kate! The push, pull and Nirvana of facebook :-D
Yes, there is a way that the status update becomes a kind of way of showing yourself to the world, albeit the world of FB. I read a quote somewhere recently of someone saying it's like we've all joined the Stasi and are continually monitoring and reporting on ourselves. That makes it sound sinister - but it is quite easy to find the whole thing rather sinister...
I also accept 'friends' in FB that I don't know, but that's because I'm trying to find ways to use FB to communicate with my readers as well as my real live friends and family. I used to find the combination of friends, family, acquaintances, strangers, work colleagues, etc., in FB rather nightmarish potentially... but hopefully I've got better at the 'art of the update' and am using it, instead of letting it use me!
Thanks for the very interesting comments everybody.
Before I say anything else, here’s a not so random sample of my updates: "the number of facebook comments you make is a function of how busy you are (or lack thereof) - 1st law of facebookdynamics.."; "~ ananto loko ~ (the universe is infinite)"; or "feels like a piano but all i got is a guitar with a few dead strings...", etc.
Believe it or not, I actually enjoy going through people's fb status updates every now and then (and randomly click "like", kidding)... not because the writings themselves are that interesting or amusing necessarily - sometimes they are - but it often amazes me to observe and read to an extent what people want their fb friends to know about themselves. People are really bringing different cultures and backgrounds to fb but collectively creating a kind of social media culture. Recently, I've been adding a few fb friends whom I've never met and from places I've never been to (it's kinna like a little social science project I'm trying to experiment, in which I add at least a friend from every country around the world). Now I even have a fb friend from Bhutan who, I would say, has quite a unique style of fb status update writing - her recent update said "will continue being lazy for next two days..."
I think the reason for that is the need human beings have of being heard. Status updates and twitter provide that. The status update can be helpful but without acknowledging that every and any person can read it, you are only fooling yourself.
... and sometimes or even many times the eagerness to share one's status becomes like a mannerism and even addiction. Then afterwards you somehow realize that you have been sharing some things that are not necessary and which can even become a source of trouble especially when it involves someone else or some issues that are not supposed to be shared publicly ... and realize further that before you can delete the update it has already created trouble!
It is therefore important that while the ability to share updates with others are being provided, we must always remember that we are not writing on diaries that we can keep safe inside our bedroom cabinet. It is a great opportunity to be able to share information, experiences, and more through FB and Tw but we must be guided by common sense that there are people out there who could abuse them betyond our conscious intentions.
The Web has become a new medium for visual fine-artists; why not authors and poets as well? I think we'll see a trend toward further blendings of art and the Internet, and some of them will surprise us.
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As a writer of fiction, my primary concern is to get the right words in the right order in service of my story. My second consideration is this: How will my work find its readers?
I’ve been writing books of fiction for 20 years now, and writing digital fiction for around seven; moving online has had as profound an effect on me as publishing my first book did, if not more. Moving online has forced me to consider the future of publishing -- indeed, the future of writing and reading itself -- much more profoundly than I could ever have anticipated.
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