Facebook in Everyday Conversation

Does Facebook come up in everyday conversation? What's it usually like when it does?

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Respondent 2

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J: How does Facebook come up in the face-to-face?

I:Every time we take cameras out, everybody knows it goes on Facebook [laugh]

J: So computer-internet, camera-Facebook, that’s good.

I:So people pose and say “Don’t put this on Facebook” or they might be like “Put this one on Facebook!” And people at parties – like I went to bomb night last night and they were taking pictures and my friend he was like he knew people were taking a picture that was gonna go up on Facebook so he went up next to them.  Stuff like that.  I try to make sure that – like I had a cup of water – and I don’t want people to get ideas.  And at CO’s they have clear drinks and stuff and they put a straw in it like the rest of the drinks, and people see that and say “She’s got a drink” and I gotta be like “it’s still water.” I’m still conscious, like Facebook is a big phenomenon, and I know that.  I know people who’s parents and stuff are on Facebook, so I like never want anybody to tag any perceptions of me, I know Facebook can just be face value and people might look you up.

Respondent 3

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J: How then does Facebook come up in everyday conversation?  Say tomato lettuce night, the soccer thing, how else does Facebook come up in conversation?

I:First of all it’s about creating networks, as soon as you meet a person you ask, do you have Facebook?  It also brings up in conversations, like oh I saw on Facebook. For example I went to Jamaica, people were like oh how was Jamaica, it looked like a lot of fun.  I didn’t even have to tell people how I spent my Spring break, cause it was all out there already, so people would just talk about it first and that kind of thing.

J: So it sounds like mostly to initiate connections and then it turns up as a sort of medium?

I:Yeah.

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I: Well… umb… well I think it’s really funny when I upload pictures from my camera, and these people will be like ‘un-tag me, un-tag me, un-tag me’ and I think you can remove yourself now but not before and they’d be like calling me and like ‘un-tag’ me, and a girl would be like “I can’t get a guy if you upload this photo.”

Respondent 4

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I: uh, its funny that um it seems to pop up in conversation a lot more, and its an activity like oh what do you do. Oh, I Facebooked. like so people talk about it. Like, for example, if you’re in a relationship with someone, it’s not serious until you’re in, ya know, in the relationship on Facebook so it’s like, oh Facebook told me they were in a relationship, so it must be serious. Just things like that.

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J: ok so you also talk about how it’s spoken about um in person so like how is Facebook characterized when people talk about it? How does it appear in conversations?

I:I dunno, its only certain people I know, so its some people, pretty much everyone I know has Facebook, but not everyone goes on it, and not everyone is proud of spending a lot of time on it, some people are very open with like oh, I Facebook stalked so and so. um but yeah like I know a handful of people that will bring up something like, oh I just found out something on Facebook like it’s, ya know, like a newsfeed like its like a big deal, instead of watching a real news, like, they watch the newsfeed ,ya know, they broke up and Facebook told me that they’re in a relationship.

J: You were relating in terms of the newsfeed as a source of news. How would you characterize the other ways people talk about it, is it a medium, is it a place, how do you think people talk about it?

I:Um, it might just be a thing and they don’t think about it in any of those ways, but I don’t think its so much a place, if anything it’d be a medium.

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Respondent 5

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J: Okay, so moving on, how does Facebook come up with conversation?

I:It’s funny. Like me and my good friend here, I’ll like say something like “Oh I talked to so and so today” and one of us will respond “oh I already saw that on Facebook, been there, creeped that.”  We have certain phrases.

J:What are some of those?

I:Me and my friend we made up “Been there stalked that” like we already saw that, duh, it was on the newsfeed.  Or “you better tag me on that picture” like when you’re out and someone takes a picture of you—sometimes people will be like “you better tag me” or “don’t put that picture on Facebook”

J:Is it a critical news source in a sense? Like a newspaper almost?

I:Yeah, yeah it’s like you get a lot of information from it, just in general.

J:How is it characterized in conversation, like about Facebook or things related to it?

I:Just things related to it, people are like “oh yeah on Facebook…”

J:Just mentioning where you saw or find something?

I:Yeah, we never really have discussions about like Facebook.

J: So it’s a very common thing though?

I:Yeah.

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Respondent 6

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J: So how then, say when people talk about Facebook, how does it come up in normal conversation?

I:It usually comes up in direct relation to like… oh we’re talking about someone and they’re like “oh I’m Facebook friends with them.” Or someone who looks at Facebook often is like “Oh did you see that this person changed their relationship status on Facebook? They’re single now” or whatever.

J: So it’s about the activities that have happened on it?

I:Yeah, I think so.  Or say like, someone will be like “Did you hear, are you going to this event?” and I’ll be like “what event” and they’ll be like “oh you didn’t get the Facebook invitation?” Stuff like that.

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Respondent 8

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J: So how does then, Facebook come up in conversation?

I:You can talk about, like “oh this person talked to me about this” like “they sent me a message on Facebook saying this” umb, start threads with some people if we have a specific thing we want to talk about.  Like I’m involved in a freshman retreat for next year and all of the team members have a thread and everything and then we can say “Oh on the thread someone said this, have you checked Facebook yet?” And we say “Oh no what did they say?” type things, umb, pictures of so and so are on Facebook.

J:Do you ever literally say “Facebook me” to someone?

I:Not usually, usually it’s like text-me or something.

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Respondent 9

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J: So how does Facebook come up in everyday conversation?  How does it normally appear when people talk about it?

I:Events.  Umb, like if you got invited to an event, people will be like “hey there’s a cool event coming up [seen on Facebook] do you want to go?” Or so and so friended me on Facebook, it was kinda weird.

J:Do you ever invite people to find you on Facebook?

I:Yeah.

J:Do they ever talk about it as a place where things happen?  Or is it more like a newspaper or something?

I:Kinda like a place where things happen.

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Respondent 10

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J: Okay I skipped a question.  How does Facebook come into everyday conversation?

I:Well, every single picture someone takes, they’ll be like “Oh put that up” or “Don’t put that up” or people will be like “oh new Facebook picture” –stupid stuff.  I think it’s really stupid because like in high school I liked to take pictures and put everything in albums and now I don’t do that because I have Facebook.

J:I think you already mentioned, it’s a common thing

I:Yeah you’ll be like I knew that already and they’ll be like how and you’ll be like Facebook.

J:And the focus is not actually on Facebook itself but—

I:What you saw on there.