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Emergent Networks: Fotologs as Performances of the Self
Raquel Recuero, a Brazilian professor, is an Internet culture researcher in South America.
Fotolog, a photo-sharing site, grew quickly in South America, becoming one of the most popular social networking services in Chile, Brazil and other countries. Fotologs became interesting narratives of everyday life, carefully constructed by users to share the impressions they wanted to display for their audience. They became identity performances. A Gothic user I interviewed, for example, would only publish pictures in black and white, always accompanied by Gothic band lyrics. He said it was a way to “make a statement about himself.”… more
Facebook's Games: Emerging Sociality
Raquel Recuero is a professor of linguistics and communication in Brazil, and a researcher in social media and Internet culture in South America. The content of this post is based on her recent research about Facebook’s role-playing games.
Social networking games are typically regarded as “casual” in the sense that they don’t require players to become so addicted to them, or to invest a lot of time in order to be enjoyed. Game mechanisms are simpler, allowing users, in many cases, just to point-and-click and the rules aren't complex. Thus, one would doubt that RPGs (role playing games), usually marked by complex plots and detailed character sketches, would ever blossom on social networking sites. But that doesn't seem to be the case at all. In the past several months I’ve been studying RPGs and especially, Mafia Wars on Facebook, a game about creating a character and improving it through jobs and missions.… more
