The Changing Culture in the Age of Social Media: A Multimedia Proposition from Filipinos’ Fascination with Facebook By Gonzaga, Ma. Elvira; Lati, Caroline; Martinez, Diana Jean; Servano, Michael John; and Trinidad, Thomas Wim Submitted to Claire David, Faculty-in-Charge, on September 25, 2010 As Final Requirement for MMS111 (Multimedia and Society) University of the Philippines Open University The Facebook (or shortly, FB) phenomenon warrants a special scrutiny in the study of Multimedia and Society. Facebook’s highly interactive offerings make it a model of multimedia technology; it is the it platform of today’s social media. The millions of Filipinos using it daily, hundred-folds the number of voters who participated in the recent elections, make it a force in, or a reflection of our changing society. The astounding numbers unquestionably qualify our fascination with Facebook as culturally significant, if we strictly follow the textual definition “culture is a learned and shared adaptive behaviour and values of a society.” Thus, reflecting on our cultural motivations with Facebook is a classic exercise of understanding the integration of multimedia and society. This paper is a strategic collection of individually voiced articles about FB and the Filipino. The voice used in this whole work is mostly in the first person, as this is a collaboration of Filipinos who are very much a part of the Facebook statistic, but with keen eyes and critical thought that aim to uncover the why’s and how’s of this cultural phenomenon. We speak as Filipinos who understand our conditions; and the wide use of collectives in this work mean that we inclusively speak with the Filipino audience where the message of this paper is most relevant. The first article, “Pinoy Kinship in Facebook”, asks the question, “What primarily motivates us in using Facebook?”, clarifying the attitudes and practical social conditions that drive our FB usage. But with the trappings of this utility, we also inadvertently develop behaviour that sways us from the values that identify the classic good Filipino. That is the exploration of the second article, “A Queer Look at Juan Dela Cruz’ Facebook”, “queer” being suspicious of what FB has done or is currently doing to our culture. The third article, “Filipinos’ Gender and Age Representation in Facebook: A Deviation from Our Patriarchal Society”, answers quite directly the question, “What specific social problems are being addressed by Facebook?” Whereas, the fourth article, “Facebook Fascination: Security and Privacy Issues behind Filipino Values of Socialization” is a repetition of the universal dangers of mediated communication, but specifically asks, “What aspects of our attitudes make us particularly susceptible to the security and privacy risks?” Based on our shifting tastes and our constantly changing expectations, the last article, “Our Love Affair with Facebook: Happily Ever After or Wham, Bam, Thank You Mam?”, explores the imminent possibility of either our continued patronage, or emancipation from Facebook by attempting to answer the question, “Will our changing values, partly from our extensive experience with social media, force us to look for or even come up with multimedia solutions that will serve our interests?” The last question is where the purpose of this paper lifts off. In the modern age of mediated communications, there is great potential for us to carve our destinies from our own hands. Multimedia technology allows us to create solutions for our own ends, but the inherent power of multimedia platforms, as exemplified by Facebook, should force us to examine the social implications of whatever multimedia products we create. The purpose of this paper is to present a concept of a solution based on the ideals of a society that embraces its culture while taking advantage of multimedia technology. This is in keeping with the mindset that studying multimedia in the context of society should have purpose other than just understanding it.
The Changing Culture in the Age of Social Media:
A Multimedia Proposition from Filipinos’ Fascination with Facebook
By Gonzaga, Ma. Elvira; Lati, Caroline; Martinez, Diana Jean;
Servano, Michael John; and Trinidad, Thomas Wim
Submitted to Claire David, Faculty-in-Charge, on September 25, 2010
As Final Requirement for MMS111 (Multimedia and Society)
University of the Philippines Open University
The Facebook (or shortly, FB) phenomenon warrants a special scrutiny in the study of Multimedia and Society. Facebook’s highly interactive offerings make it a model of multimedia technology; it is the it platform of today’s social media. The millions of Filipinos using it daily, hundred-folds the number of voters who participated in the recent elections, make it a force in, or a reflection of our changing society. The astounding numbers unquestionably qualify our fascination with Facebook as culturally significant, if we strictly follow the textual definition “culture is a learned and shared adaptive behaviour and values of a society.” Thus, reflecting on our cultural motivations with Facebook is a classic exercise of understanding the integration of multimedia and society.
This paper is a strategic collection of individually voiced articles about FB and the Filipino. The voice used in this whole work is mostly in the first person, as this is a collaboration of Filipinos who are very much a part of the Facebook statistic, but with keen eyes and critical thought that aim to uncover the why’s and how’s of this cultural phenomenon. We speak as Filipinos who understand our conditions; and the wide use of collectives in this work mean that we inclusively speak with the Filipino audience where the message of this paper is most relevant.
The first article, “Pinoy Kinship in Facebook”, asks the question, “What primarily motivates us in using Facebook?”, clarifying the attitudes and practical social conditions that drive our FB usage. But with the trappings of this utility, we also inadvertently develop behaviour that sways us from the values that identify the classic good Filipino. That is the exploration of the second article, “A Queer Look at Juan Dela Cruz’ Facebook”, “queer” being suspicious of what FB has done or is currently doing to our culture. The third article, “Filipinos’ Gender and Age Representation in Facebook: A Deviation from Our Patriarchal Society”, answers quite directly the question, “What specific social problems are being addressed by Facebook?” Whereas, the fourth article, “Facebook Fascination: Security and Privacy Issues behind Filipino Values of Socialization” is a repetition of the universal dangers of mediated communication, but specifically asks, “What aspects of our attitudes make us particularly susceptible to the security and privacy risks?” Based on our shifting tastes and our constantly changing expectations, the last article, “Our Love Affair with Facebook: Happily Ever After or Wham, Bam, Thank You Mam?”, explores the imminent possibility of either our continued patronage, or emancipation from Facebook by attempting to answer the question, “Will our changing values, partly from our extensive experience with social media, force us to look for or even come up with multimedia solutions that will serve our interests?”
The last question is where the purpose of this paper lifts off. In the modern age of mediated communications, there is great potential for us to carve our destinies from our own hands. Multimedia technology allows us to create solutions for our own ends, but the inherent power of multimedia platforms, as exemplified by Facebook, should force us to examine the social implications of whatever multimedia products we create. The purpose of this paper is to present a concept of a solution based on the ideals of a society that embraces its culture while taking advantage of multimedia technology. This is in keeping with the mindset that studying multimedia in the context of society should have purpose other than just understanding it.