The concept of the 'Leviathan' refers to the power that enforces our adherence to society’s norms and standards. According to Wallace, it is a "system of government that we empower to resolve disputes." And however elusive it may be, such a force does in fact exist on the Internet. For the greater good of the medium, most people willingly give up certain rights and freedoms when using the Internet, resulting in the formation of a type of "netiquette."
This online-etiquette can be observed in several forums, especially Facebook. Within the wonderful, scary world of Facebook, there are various ways in which we can communicate one-on-one with another user. When posting on someone's wall, we are cognizant of the fact that whatever is written can be read by anyone viewing our profiles. On the other hand, when sending someone a message, we know that whatever is written will most likely only be viewed by the recipient, that the message will not be publicly displayed on their profile. Naturally, the inherent differences between wall-posts and sending messages on Facebook oftentimes results in dramatic differences in message content. Since both forms of communication are a) facilitated by the same website and b)between two Facebook users, why don't we ever interchange the two? Why don't we answer private message inquiries with wall-posts? Well, because of Internet etiquette, and The Leviathan.
In this case, Facebook users take the role of The Leviathan. Since we understand the nature of sending messages versus posting on someones wall, we know that there are serious differences between two, and mixing these forms of communication could result in serious consequences. For example, I have been invited to somewhere around 5000 groups created by people with lost cell phones. Rather than post my cell phone number for all the world to see, I usually send this message to the creator of the group, for his or her eyes only. Lets say, for the sake of the example, this person wishes to verify my phone number not by calling it, but by asking me via wall-post if it is correct. Now, while this scenario is a bit contrived, the principle of the matter is displayed: messages are meant to be private, wall-posts are not. We do not mix the two for a reason.
Facebook users are essentially the governing body with this norm, because we are the ones who could be potentially hurt by this Facebook malpractice. For someone who acts outside the rules of Facebook, in these terms, the victimized party would undoubtedly "raise an eyebrow" resulting in the potential end of friendship, and the undoubtedly damaging reputation of being a bad Facebook friend.
Wallace explains that we give up certain freedoms in order to live in a better and safe world. Indeed, in the case of Facebook, we give up the freedom to say anything we want in any forum for the sake of the people we may embarass, the gossip we may reveal, and the reputations we may taint. Long live the private message!
This Week's Comments:
http://comm245brown.blogspot.com/2007/10/6-youve-just-been-tagged.html
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http://comm245brown.blogspot.com/2007/10/lenny-kravitzs-personal-leviathan.html
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2 comments:
Marli, great post.
What I find interesting about facebook is that in some ways the user can control the Leviathan through their privacy settings. This especially applies to the news feed and controlling what information comes up in friend’s news feeds. A wall post is public, but depending on how you have your account set, it can be made more or less public. This same issue applies to the tagging of photographs and the changing of personal info. I remember one case in particular where a friend of mine got a bunch of comments when he removed that he was single from his profile. Normally people would not care if this were not on his profile, but because of the news feed, people were able to see that he changed his status. After this incident he learned that he either needed to follow the Leviathan or change his privacy settings so he wouldn’t have to worry about it.
Nice application of the concept of the Leviathan. I agree with your comprehensive analysis completely.
Just a little food for thought: I beleive our culture and perceptions of privacy are transforming rapidly, often due to seemingly simple and intentional decisions on the part of the web developers. Private messaging and wall posting have always existed on Facebook. For the first two years, users received an EMAIL notification only for new wall posts, not messages. In favor of a richer more sychronous media, people began posting on walls. I think, whether intentional or not, Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook, primed our culture to make wall posts that would previously be sent via private message or IM and even have public conversations. Now that Zuckerberg has already lowered our privacy threshold to the next level, he now notifies for private messages as well as wall posts. Since the standards of the Leviathan have already solidified over two years, enabling email notification for private messages (which previously went unnoticed) did not cut down on the frequency or number of wall posts.
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