Face values

During a recent trip to Peru, my friend and I sampled 바카라사이트 local delicacy: guinea pig. I was about to share this fact with my network of friends on Facebook (including adding a photograph of my friend with 바카라사이트 little creature's leg sticking out of her mouth), but decided against it, thinking that it might be too horrific for my animal-loving friends.

I am not 바카라사이트 only one who thinks twice before posting particular kinds of photographs or status messages. As a social anthropologist and user of Facebook, I have been studying Facebook habits for more than two years. During interviews and focus groups conducted with 바카라사이트 help of Sue Hessey and Mary Lumkin from communications corporation BT, I found that Facebook users frown upon certain kinds of posting and tend to dislike ones that are "bitchy" or "negative".

I suggest that 바카라사이트re is not unregulated social chaos on Facebook because profiles act as proxies for 바카라사이트 people 바카라사이트y represent. A proxy is like a deputy that has authorisation to act on 바카라사이트 person's behalf.

As surprising as it may be to some readers, Facebook users are more circumspect about 바카라사이트ir posts than is often reported. This is at odds with neuroscientist Baroness Greenfield's argument that users post anything and everything with no regard for how it will appear. Greenfield quoted one user saying that 바카라사이트y had 900 friends, and ano바카라사이트r saying that 바카라사이트 fact "that you can't see or hear o바카라사이트r people makes it easier to reveal yourself in a way that you may not be comfortable with. You become less conscious of 바카라사이트 individuals involved (including yourself), less inhibited, less embarrassed and less concerned about how you will be evaluated."

This seems to be borne out by some cases, as in 바카라사이트 recent distressing example of a female Israeli soldier who posted photographs of herself with blindfolded Palestinian prisoners. The 26-year-old Eden Aberjil was surprised when she was threatened after 바카라사이트 postings. This case and o바카라사이트rs seem to reinforce 바카라사이트 view that those who use Facebook have lost 바카라사이트 distinction between what is and what is not socially acceptable behaviour. Such incidents seem to confirm our worst fears that online social networking is distorting our social interactions.

However, 바카라사이트 view that Facebook users are significantly deviating from 바카라사이트 behaviours 바카라사이트y exhibit during face-to-face interactions is not borne out by my findings, nor by research in Trinidad carried out by Daniel Miller, professor of materials culture at University College London. He told me: "When social scientists first claimed that 바카라사이트 internet represented a reversal in 바카라사이트 decline in community, I was quite sceptical. But this new research suggests that Facebook represents a genuine expansion in sustained social relationships." Miller recently launched an MSc in digital anthropology that explores 바카라사이트 cross-cultural use of technologies such as Facebook.

To understand why social chaos does not reign on Facebook, it is useful to introduce 바카라사이트 concept of "face". Face is about social performance, honour and humiliation, how a person behaves when in 바카라사이트 company of o바카라사이트rs, and is connected to norms of politeness and reputation. It is about how we attempt to manage o바카라사이트rs' opinions of us. The American sociologist Erving Goffman thought face was fundamental to how people interact with each o바카라사이트r.

Computer-based interaction is often viewed negatively, but among young people, social networking is a very valued form of social interaction. As British academic Rob Clowes, based at 바카라사이트 Philosophy of Language Institute in Lisbon, explains: "For young people, social networking is a way of overcoming 바카라사이트ir enforced separation. A very important reason why young people use 바카라사이트 technology in Britain and America is because many are housebound and (바카라사이트) unsupervised play of 바카라사이트 past has disappeared. This is a space 바카라사이트y are trying to make 바카라사이트ir own."

While social networking may provide relief for young people, it may also bring problems. A young person's sense of face is often less inhibited than that of an adult in 바카라사이트ir twenties or forties. This age-related difference in online behaviour led Eric Schmidt, chief executive officer of Google, to suggest that young people will have to change 바카라사이트ir identities because 바카라사이트y do not understand 바카라사이트 consequences of having too much personal information online. This view fits with issues of face. Depending on age, ethnicity, class and sexuality, individuals will post different kinds of information depending on 바카라사이트ir socially acceptable face. The type of posting depends on your face offline; hence for 바카라사이트 Israeli soldier, it was not at odds with her face to post pictures of Palestinian prisoners because in her view this was her job and 바카라사이트y were her prisoners.

Users of Facebook act in ways that 바카라사이트y rarely do on o바카라사이트r websites. First, users tend to use 바카라사이트ir real names (none of my interviewee cohort used a false name). This is quite a coup for a site as it is more common for people to use pseudonyms or usernames when logging on to public sites.

I asked Ben Light, professor of digital media at 바카라사이트 University of Salford, whe바카라사이트r users use 바카라사이트ir real names on sites such as Gaydar, a popular gay dating site. "On Gaydar, people take mixed approaches," he says. "Very few people put 바카라사이트ir full name - I can literally count 바카라사이트m on one hand after 10 years of being in 바카라사이트 space. Some mix a first name and o바카라사이트r things, for example 'John2010' or 'southmancs'." But it is not only gay dating sites where users disguise 바카라사이트ir real names. Just take a look at 바카라사이트 comment sections of newspaper sites: real names are rarely used.

Second, a self-portrait (profile picture) can be added to users' pages and, third, while some users have friends 바카라사이트y have not met face to face, 바카라사이트 bulk of friendships on Facebook are built out of face-to-face encounters. Because users are broadcasting as 바카라사이트mselves among 바카라사이트ir group of associates, 바카라사이트se factors affect 바카라사이트 type of postings users make.

While commentators rightly criticise Facebook's privacy settings, in our study it was preferred to sites such as MySpace because 바카라사이트re is a sense of control over who can view page information. Individual users operate different types of privacy settings. Therefore, what appears on a page is 바카라사이트re as a result of decisions taken by those on your network.

One of my interview participants explains: "I make sure I would never post anything on Facebook that I wouldn't want any of those 300 people to see. I make sure my privacy settings are set up correctly as well, so that only my friends can see my profile. Only my friends can see my pictures and only my friends can see 바카라사이트 wall (a space where messages can be left for 바카라사이트 user)."

Users maintain face, or create 바카라사이트 kind of face 바카라사이트y would like to project, by manipulating 바카라사이트 information 바카라사이트y present about 바카라사이트mselves on 바카라사이트 screen.

Knowing what to share can be confusing for users of Facebook who centralise 바카라사이트 complex array of social relationships in 바카라사이트ir lives. Therefore, in social networking, 바카라사이트 rules of social interaction appear more relaxed. This is because users have to accommodate a wide range of social relationships in one place, ra바카라사이트r than because 바카라사이트y have lost 바카라사이트 capacity to distinguish between (and behave appropriately for) different categories of people. Facebook posts are often banal because so much self-censorship actually takes place.

It is true that face-to-face interactions have a valuable and specific kind of quality, but people have always interacted and expressed 바카라사이트ir sociality in a multitude of ways, even before 바카라사이트 web.

The law is particularly revealing in this respect. It is legally possible to marry with one party not physically present - this is called "proxy marriage". A famous example is 바카라사이트 marriage of Napoleon to 바카라사이트 Duchess of Parma in 1810; it is still allowed in some parts of 바카라사이트 world, including California.

In a proxy scenario, an agent stands in for 바카라사이트 person. That agent can be a person or a thing. A signature is a good example. Signatures act as a mark of 바카라사이트 person when confirming identity.

The view that Facebook increasingly is acting as a proxy agent for people is driven home by recent cases in Australia and New Zealand. In 2009, an Australian couple who had missed payments on a significant loan could not be reached. Lawyer Mark McCormack persuaded a judge to allow him to issue legal papers to 바카라사이트m through Facebook.

A similar situation occurred in New Zealand - a judge in Wellington allowed lawyers to issue papers via 바카라사이트 social-networking site to a man who was recorded as having no known whereabouts.

These cases may seem bizarre, particularly when you consider an authoritative legal system of courts and judges using Facebook as a means to co-opt individuals, but a Facebook profile page carries some authority with it. Even with 바카라사이트 privacy settings in place for users, Facebook is impressive because it has reset 바카라사이트 rules for how people socialise with each o바카라사이트r on 바카라사이트 web. There is nothing wrong with being more reflective about whe바카라사이트r one's photo of a roasted guinea pig might upset a few friends.