Facebook's Little Birthday Gift
No, there's no news here. Facebook does the expected, and the unexpected. And the real "news" is, we don't all have the same Facebook experience!
I know we all "know" that, but we don't always remember it.
A week or so ago, users of Facebook were treated to a truly delightful surprise: depending on how long you'd been using the service, you got a personally tailored "video" of your time line - when you joined, "your first moments," your best-liked posts. All in a sweetly scored individual story devoted to your years (years!) with Facebook.
The idea was a 10th anniversary gift to Facebook users, and what made it so lovely was not just its unexpectedness (how it was kept as quiet as it was is beyond me!), but the fascinating trip it took each user down - children literally being "born," and those early moments revisited; people who have since passed away as you honored them or shared with them on your Facebook posts; places you visited; even those bittersweet moments - a boyfriend or girlfriend lost, a job you left, a town you no longer lived in - but shown as you experienced it in the moment.
I have to admit I find it hard to believe it's the same organization that feels the need to offer us dozens - is it really, as some have suggested, over 50 - gender options? Or is that true?
That's where the "I don't experience what you experience" part of Facebook comes in: I don't get more than three options when I try to change my gender option: Male, Female, Custom. I guess it's the "Custom" appellation that has the pundits commenting. Perhaps if the choice were "Other" nobody would be laughing, applauding, or frothing at the mouth. I read some many places that Facebook is now offering not three, not ten, but 58 choices, reportedly:
Agender, Androgyne, Androgynous, Bigender, Cis, Cisgender, Cis Female, Cis Male, Cis Man, Cis Woman, Cisgender Female, Cisgender Male, Cisgender Man, Cisgender Woman, Female to Male, FTM
Gender Fluid, Gender Nonconforming, Gender Questioning, Gender Variant, Genderqueer, Intersex, Male to Female, MTF, Neither, Neutrois, Non-binary, Other, Pangender, Trans, Trans*, Trans Female, Trans* Female, Trans Male,Trans* Male, Trans Man, Trans* Man, Trans Person, Trans* Person, Trans Woman, Trans* Woman, Transfeminine, Transgender, Transgender Female, Transgender Male, Transgender Man, Transgender Person, Transgender Woman, Transmasculine, Transsexual, Transsexual Female, Transsexual Male, Transsexual Man, Transsexual Person, Transsexual Woman, Two-Spirit
Even when I entered "Custom," I did not get this list of choices. Perhaps there is more I have to do, or perhaps it's simply that Facebook already "knows" my gender identity. It's this contrast of choices, and the individuality of the experience, that keeps me fascinated by Facebook, as I am goggled by Google (well, I had to come up with an "g" word, also known as an "alliteration" - that's the best I could do).
There was something sweet and charming and delicate about the anniversary waltz Facebook did with us. There was something slightly smart-alec and even challenging about adding a "Custom" label to our choice of Gender. But that's Facebook.
And as I noted, we don't all have the same experience. Depending on whose stories we respond to, whose links we click on, whom we choose as "close" friends, we'll see posts that Facebook has decided - though some mysterious algorithm - we are most likely to want to see. Of course, we can adjust what we see by "defriending" and going to various people's pages to show more interest. But all in all, what we see on Facebook has a lot more to do with what Facebook's idea of who we are than perhaps our own.
In spite of the fact that Facebook is reportedly losing the young - high school and college kids - in droves - as far as I know there is no genuine replacement yet. Thus far, the "replacement" is "small format" options like Snapchat, Istagram, and other short post options - which fits the nature of posts for many weaned on Life Online - fast, frequent, and mostly in code (that is to say, you have to translate to understand what they're talking about). So what Facebook does will, at least for the time being, continue to have an impact on what we're thinking, and how we're thinking it.
I know we all "know" that, but we don't always remember it.
A week or so ago, users of Facebook were treated to a truly delightful surprise: depending on how long you'd been using the service, you got a personally tailored "video" of your time line - when you joined, "your first moments," your best-liked posts. All in a sweetly scored individual story devoted to your years (years!) with Facebook.
The idea was a 10th anniversary gift to Facebook users, and what made it so lovely was not just its unexpectedness (how it was kept as quiet as it was is beyond me!), but the fascinating trip it took each user down - children literally being "born," and those early moments revisited; people who have since passed away as you honored them or shared with them on your Facebook posts; places you visited; even those bittersweet moments - a boyfriend or girlfriend lost, a job you left, a town you no longer lived in - but shown as you experienced it in the moment.
I have to admit I find it hard to believe it's the same organization that feels the need to offer us dozens - is it really, as some have suggested, over 50 - gender options? Or is that true?
That's where the "I don't experience what you experience" part of Facebook comes in: I don't get more than three options when I try to change my gender option: Male, Female, Custom. I guess it's the "Custom" appellation that has the pundits commenting. Perhaps if the choice were "Other" nobody would be laughing, applauding, or frothing at the mouth. I read some many places that Facebook is now offering not three, not ten, but 58 choices, reportedly:
Agender, Androgyne, Androgynous, Bigender, Cis, Cisgender, Cis Female, Cis Male, Cis Man, Cis Woman, Cisgender Female, Cisgender Male, Cisgender Man, Cisgender Woman, Female to Male, FTM
Gender Fluid, Gender Nonconforming, Gender Questioning, Gender Variant, Genderqueer, Intersex, Male to Female, MTF, Neither, Neutrois, Non-binary, Other, Pangender, Trans, Trans*, Trans Female, Trans* Female, Trans Male,Trans* Male, Trans Man, Trans* Man, Trans Person, Trans* Person, Trans Woman, Trans* Woman, Transfeminine, Transgender, Transgender Female, Transgender Male, Transgender Man, Transgender Person, Transgender Woman, Transmasculine, Transsexual, Transsexual Female, Transsexual Male, Transsexual Man, Transsexual Person, Transsexual Woman, Two-Spirit
Even when I entered "Custom," I did not get this list of choices. Perhaps there is more I have to do, or perhaps it's simply that Facebook already "knows" my gender identity. It's this contrast of choices, and the individuality of the experience, that keeps me fascinated by Facebook, as I am goggled by Google (well, I had to come up with an "g" word, also known as an "alliteration" - that's the best I could do).
There was something sweet and charming and delicate about the anniversary waltz Facebook did with us. There was something slightly smart-alec and even challenging about adding a "Custom" label to our choice of Gender. But that's Facebook.
And as I noted, we don't all have the same experience. Depending on whose stories we respond to, whose links we click on, whom we choose as "close" friends, we'll see posts that Facebook has decided - though some mysterious algorithm - we are most likely to want to see. Of course, we can adjust what we see by "defriending" and going to various people's pages to show more interest. But all in all, what we see on Facebook has a lot more to do with what Facebook's idea of who we are than perhaps our own.
In spite of the fact that Facebook is reportedly losing the young - high school and college kids - in droves - as far as I know there is no genuine replacement yet. Thus far, the "replacement" is "small format" options like Snapchat, Istagram, and other short post options - which fits the nature of posts for many weaned on Life Online - fast, frequent, and mostly in code (that is to say, you have to translate to understand what they're talking about). So what Facebook does will, at least for the time being, continue to have an impact on what we're thinking, and how we're thinking it.
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