Archiving the self? Facebook as biography of social and relational memory
| Published date | 27 February 2009 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14779960910938070 |
| Pages | 25-38 |
| Date | 27 February 2009 |
| Author | Kathleen Richardson,Sue Hessey |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
Archiving the self?
Facebook as biography of social
and relational memory
Kathleen Richardson
Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge,
Cambridge, UK, and
Sue Hessey
BT Group’s Chief Technology Office, Ipswich, UK
Abstract
Purpose – The purposeof this paper is to explore the claimthat online communication technologiesare
detrimentalto off-line communication practices.
Design/methodology/approach – This paper is based on material from focus groups with
students from the University of Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), and in-depth
interviews from a mixture of employed people and students. The breakdown is as follows: three focus
groups in total are ran, two cohorts of participants were students from University of Cambridge, and
the third group from ARU. Six individuals aged between 21 and 36 were interviewed in-depth on their
Facebook use. Questions relating to personal use of Facebook are asked. All names of participants
have been changed.
Findings – The research findings show that opportunities for communication are increased by using
Facebook. Facebook use also impacts on how other types of communicative technologies are
used – such as the phone and email. From the small participant sample, it is founded (with only one
exception, the Facebook user had accepted a request from a “stranger” on recommendation from her
friend, only to reject this friend within a short time from her network due to his reliability. Since the
study, it is founded that one individual who has befriended individuals that were not known to him.
When asked about this, he explained that many of these friends were developed after playing online
games with them. In his mind, he had built up trust through game-playing and used this as a measure
of their reliability. Whilst he only joined Facebook in early 2008, he has now accumulated over 350
friends.) that off-line encounters were a prerequisite for a friend connection to be made online in
Facebook. Finally, it is founded that the participants rarely interact with the majority of their
Facebook friends and it is this dormant archive of relationships that hold the most interest as it
provides an archive of relationships that would have dissipated without these technologies.
Originality/value – The key value of the paper lies in understanding this technology as an archive
of human relationships.
Keywords Surveillance,Students, Communication technologies,Electronic media, Networking,
United Kingdom
Paper type Conceptual paper
1. Introduction: disintegrating relationships
This paper will explore how participants in this study negotiate, organize and
manage their off-line and online relationships through the social networking
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1477-996X.htm
The authors would like to thank BT for funding the research and to Mary Lumkin (BT Group’s
Chief Technology Office) and Rachel Childs for their ideas and support.
Archiving the
self?
25
Received 30 September 2008
Revised 30 October 2008
Accepted 27 November 2008
Journal of Information,
Communication & Ethics in Society
Vol. 7 No. 1, 2009
pp. 25-38
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
1477-996X
DOI 10.1108/14779960910938070
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