Nowadays Facebook certainly is an online social norm for college-aged people. Prior to being opened to the general public, Facebook had nearly 20 million users with only college and high school members. Needless to say, it is hard to run into someone who does not have a Facebook profile.
The social tool gained popularity primarily through word of mouth. When I first joined Facebook, my reason was to be able to see my friends’ photos from our trip to the South Pacific (non-members cannot see any personal profiles). At that time the site was still gaining popularity and nobody was surprised that I was not already a member. However, since then the ways of the Internet(s) have changed and someone without a Facebook profile is virtually (and possibly literally) a social outcast.
I’ve had a few experiences with what I like to call “‘You’re not on Facebook’ shock.” The first examples concern friends of mine that either hadn’t heard of Facebook or had resisted joining for reasons of personal indifference. In one case, someone started a group on the premise that if the group reached a certain number of members, our friend Tim would agree to create a profile. In another instance, my roommate last year had not even heard of Facebook when our suitemates and I began ‘friending’ each other. After our initial shock, and subsequent prodding, he quickly agreed to join as if it were a graduation requirement.
My second example of ‘Facebook shock’ (for short) came when I decided to de-activate my profile last year. My reason was simply that I didn’t use it and felt it was somewhat unnecessary. Relatively soon after I de-activated however, friends who had known that I was a member inquired as to why I had left, and people who looked to ‘friend’ me thought I hadn’t ever had a profile and gave me the same reaction that my roommate got when we found out he wasn’t a member.
Wallace’s theory would categorize the quick adoption of Facebook and resulting expectation that someone is a member as a demonstration of ‘Conforming on the Net.’ As she says, “people are willing and sometimes even eager to conform.” The phenomenon of ‘Facebook shock’ is probably best explained by ‘The Arched Brow’ in Wallace’s theory. Most people are surprised to find out that a peer is not a member and they almost always will rebuke that person by insisting that they join.
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Gerard,
Interesting post. This is a great example of how strong the arched brow really is. I too had several “Facebook shocks” with friends that do not have a Facebook account, and I can assure you that they are in fact social outcast. I only know three people in a certain age group (15-35 I can not really picture my parents and grandparents using Facebook) who do not have a Facebook account. 2 of these people promised each other that they will not join any social networking website. The other person is just weird. All of these people can pretty much be considered social outcast. For the most part, people who do not have Facebook accounts are not aware of Facebook, and once they experience the shock or the raised brow, they immediately create an account. This is probably the only good explanation for it.
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