Facebook, A New Twist On How We Record Time.

Since its arrival in 2004, Facebook has swept the nation and world into a new era of shared information. We no longer pick up the phone, email or write quite like we used to. Instead, we check our Facebook feed for the latest news and articles to see what our “friends” are up to. In fact, a study conducted by Facebook claims that the average user checks their Facebook 14 times a day. Facebook currently has over 1 billion active users, this means there is a lot of information out there, and it’s growing. Facebook claims there is over 300 petabytes of data stored from all of its users (Peta=1000 gigabytes). If you quantified that data into just high resolution pictures, that would be over 840 million high resolution pictures. Daily, Facebook records over 500 terabytes of data (roughly 3 million high res pictures). So how is all of this information stored? Timelines, over a billion of them, all run by individuals. (BusinessInsider)

            Each timeline is somewhat original and somewhat similar as the next. They are each customizable up to a point. What really differentiates Facebook from every other timeline out there is that Facebook uses over a billion authors. The timelines are displayed on the author’s page and will usually have a custom “cover photo” and profile picture. This tells the audience who the page belongs to and adds a touch of personality to the timeline. The author can add information about themselves to the left side of the page. Below the profile picture and cover photo is where the timeline is displayed. The interesting part about the timeline is that the most recent point or update is displayed at the top. This shows viewers and friends the latest event or update the author choose to upload. Whenever a new event is added it is placed at the top and all other events basically move down on the chain. Facebook in many ways acts as a blog, you can post on it, share videos, pictures and news articles. However, everything ever posted, shared, or messaged instantly becomes a part of a timeline. In most cases these shared moments are ““literally”” shared, meaning they can belong to several if not hundreds of timelines. For Facebook, this makes recording time not just easy, but fun! These shared moments may appear to leave gaps in the Facebook timeline.  

What happens between these events may appear to be nothing. However, after taking a closer look you may find the answer lies to the left of the Timeline in what is labeled “Info”.

This Info tells the audience more about the author, where they live, work, like to hang out, and sometimes who they are dating. With this information, the audience can start to piece together a lifestyle and personality. It doesn’t stop there, this info also provides us with a hint. A hint of what’s happening between the moments. Scott McCloud, Writer, Cartoonist, Theorist and author of “Understanding Comics” Has a Name for this gap. His book “understanding comics” is a thorough analysis of the history and literature of comics and why they should not be underestimated.  In his novel he calls this gap “the gutter”. He says: “This phenomenon of observing the parts but perceiving the whole has a name, it’s called Closure”. This closure is where the imagination can take over. The imagination will take the information that is known and try to piece together what is happening in this “Gutter”. Ultimately what this “Info” box to the left of the timeline does is, is help us fill in the gutters of Facebook. (McCloud 63)

            McCloud argues in his book also about how comics utilize a scale in the shape of a triangle to decipher the differences in animation and the reasoning behind the arts. On this scale exists 3 realms, each completely different, every piece of artwork whether it be literature, sculpture or a cartoon character will be found somewhere on this scale. At the top exists the Picture Plane, this is where all abstract art and shapes will be found. McCloud says this is where artwork “Prompts the question, “What does it mean?””. On the lower left side of the triangle there exists “Reality”. Real pictures, boring documents and unquestionable facts. Lastly on the bottom right there is the “Language”. This is where we as the audience have to interpret the lesson and meaning behind words or art. The bottom right corner is where a lot of Facebook winds up. We see in Facebook the use of icons. These icons are made up of little cartoon images of things we recognize and associate meaning to. For instance we see an icon with two silhouettes standing next to one another, this icon if pressed will lead us to a long list of all of our author friends. Want to send a message? Click the icon with two “Word Balloons” and a bar will drop down allowing you to message any other author. These icons are simple, vague and very effective. Whether it’s our first time on Facebook or our thousandth, we know what these icons mean. According to McCloud these icons would wind up on the lower right hand of the triangle. This is because the icons are simple enough for everyone to understand and associate a specific meaning or idea to. However the Icons are not the only thing that belongs on the far right corner. Everything ever written on Facebook by an author comes into question. Every post, every picture, every shared link. Why is this? It’s because of the very thing that makes Facebook so unique, its authors, all one billion of them! Of them, only a handful are credible. What this means is that there is also plenty of room for interpretation by the viewer. Making all of this stored data, over 300 Petabytes of history, essentially useless!

What is the Purpose of having all of this useless, uncredible data? To connect people, in fact their slogan is “Be connected”, and for the last 12 years is has worked out. Facebook claims each person is on average three friends away from any other person on the planet. They have done an exceptional job of connecting people. Through the use of the timeline they have made sharing a lifetime of events as easy as scrolling through a page. It’s so easy anyone can do it, and in fact everyone does. Their audience can be everyone. No other timeline can appeal to everyone. This is what has led to over 1 billion users. Their strategy in which they draw in such a diverse audience is a unique one.

Facebook appeals to just about everyone, why is this? Through their use of Pathos and Ethos they capture the attention of their audience. By having over 1 billion users Facebook asserts its dominants over all the other social media portals. To most people this makes it credible, even if the events and moments posted cannot be counted “credible” in the eyes of scholars. This credibility fashions a soap box on which every author stands and presents his or her life biography and timeline from. What makes us so inclined to care about each other’s timeline is conceived through Facebook’s use of Pathos. Every post, image, share and comment comes from a “friend”, making it personal. When things are personal, they can become emotional. This is why audiences enjoy reading through people’s timelines and seeing day to day updates. We as Humans have becomes addicted to this connection to one another.   

Facebook is not only effective at displaying information but many other blogs and social media portals such as twitter and Tumblr have taken similar approaches in an attempt to attract masses. Facebook took the bar for timelines and raised it. It seems to me that it is the best way to keep track of and stay in touch with those friends you don’t have time to call regularly. I for one resisted Facebook at first. However, as it grew in popularity it became this irresistible force. One of its greatest features is its ability to tell you all about someone without ever having met them. The timeline will tell you everything you need to know about them down to their favorite color or favorite place to eat. It will tell you who they dated and for how long. However, as I eluded to earlier, a person’s timeline is only as strong as their bookkeeping. Some people lie about their lives and others just don’t update their timelines. This makes it hard to sort out the good information from the bad especially when you have not met someone. This I believe is Facebooks greatest downside. In most cases when a source’s credibility is in question it can be like kicking the legs out from under a table. However, Facebook is different, because Facebook is personal and riddled with emotion, it is transformed into its own entity entirely. Facebook is no longer just a timeline, it’s more. The very things that should make it flawed instead make it great! For this reason Facebook has been a huge success.

Facebook has changed our culture, it has made it so we no longer need to write letters or call our friends. It represents the optimism of humans and the desire to connect with each other. Its existence exists because we say it does. The memories and ideas we share are an extension of ourselves. So long as we desire to stay connected, Facebook shall never fall. 

Kim, Eugene. "9 Facebook Facts You Weren't Aware of." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 22 May 2015. Web. 15 Sept. 2016.

McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics:. New York: HarperPerennial, 1994. Print.