Facebook –The Gift That Keeps Giving:

 It’s well-known that social media profoundly impacts day to day life by shaping society and how we as individuals act. But consider this, do we impact social media? What customs have our morals and ethics brought to online life? Exchange is a concept embedded in human culture. The Silk Road, Pituri Road and Kula Ring are all examples discussed by Henry in her week 8 JCU BA1002 SP2 2020 lecture. How does reciprocity transfer onto social media?

Reciprocity is a well-developed, observable theory. French sociologist Marcel Mauss in his 1925 essay The Gift claimed that gift exchange builds relationships between humans (Mathews, 2017). Throughout his career, he argued that reciprocity always has sense of economic inequality and consequently the giver is often morally viewed as superior hence, the gift itself is never ‘free’. Therefore, the meaning behind a gift largely relies on the relationship between the two. Furthermore, reciprocating reciprocity in various cultures is an act of hostility and the incentive behind exchange is more than just unity (Henry, 2020). As reciprocity is a part of human nature it’s expected that it would be established in today’s society, including on Facebook, a community of 2.7 million monthly active users (Statista & Clement, 2020).

A culture and etiquette have grown alongside Facebook’s users. According to Shukle’s 2015 blog post  discussing this etiquette, it includes tagging pages or friends who have no relevance in the post and ignoring Facebook comments (click here to see the full blog). Shukle doesn’t discuss the unspoken rules of ‘like for a like’ and ‘like before you share’. Many Facebook users get annoyed when another user shares their content without liking or reacting to it first and when friends stop engaging with their posts. The first user has put content on their page for a purpose, this feeling of anger or frustration stems from this purpose not being acknowledged, hence it being considered rude. This may be excused depending on the relationship between the two people; it’s less likely for a user to get mad at a partner or best friend over a like on Facebook compared to an acquaintance. This exemplifies Mauss’s argument that gift giving is never free and how the nature of exchange is dependent on relationships.

Figure 1: (Beardly, n.d.)

Marketplace was introduced into Facebook in 2016, immediately becoming a focal point for exchange on the website. Another unspoken rule is that when a user receives the item for free they must show the giver respect. In Figure two you can see a post from the 14/09/20 taken from a Townsville buy, swap and sell page. Major details have been removed for privacy purposes. This item was listed for free and they’ve said Serious buyers only please.

Figure 2: (Anonymous, 2020)

This shows us another form of social media etiquette. When someone is giving away an item or offering it for a low price, it’s considered extremely rude to change your mind about any aspects of the exchange. Hence the giver has more control than the receiver and the product isn’t necessarily ‘free’ because if you act unkindly the giver can change their mind. This is an idea from Mauss discussed by Leche in his book Key Contemporary Concepts. Nevertheless, if someone gives, someone else must receive. But at the same time, one gives in order to receive (Leche, 2003).

It can be inferred from these examples that, through exchange, we can shape social media rather than it shaping us.

 By Elena Reynolds

References

          Anonymous. (2020). In Facebook: Townsville Buy Swap and Sell.

 

          Beardly, J. (n.d.). Jasper Beardly - Sharing My POST WITHOUT LIKING I…. Memegenerator.Net. Retrieved September 16, 2020, from https://memegenerator.net/instance/50903644/jasper-beardly-sharing-my-post-without-liking-it-thats-a-paddlin

             

          Henry, R. (2020). BA1002: Our space: Networks, narratives, and the making of place; week 8 lecture notes [PowerPoint file]. Retrieved from https://learnjcu.edu.au

 

          Lechte, J. (2003). Exchange. In Key Contemporary Concepts. Sage UK. https://search-credoreference-com.elibrary.jcu.edu.au/content/entry/sageukcc/exchange/0

 

          Mathews, M. (2017). Gift giving, reciprocity and the creation of trust. Journal of Trust Research, 7(1), 90–106. https://doi.org/10.1080/21515581.2017.1286597

         

          Shukle, R. (2015). 12 Facebook Etiquette Mistakes You Want to Avoid. Post Planner. https://www.postplanner.com/blog/facebook-etiquette-mistakes/

             

           Satista, & Clement, J. (2020, August 10). Facebook: active users worldwide. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/#:~:text=With%20over%202.7%20billion%20monthly

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