The Negarponti Files

My friend (in real life and on Facebook) Negar has started a new blog,beginning with an explanation to her colleagues of why socialnetworking is especially important in her extended, globally diasporicfamily. Why do YOU like social networking? Read Negar's blog andalso let us know why you like (or hate) social networking. Here's the first offering from The Negarponti Files, at http://negarpontifiles.blogspot.com/.

The Negarponti files

Thursday, December 11, 2008

A Family's Facebook journey.

WhenI talk to my colleagues at Duke about my intrigue with social medianetworks, I get two responses: 1) Vague interest: You'll have to sitdown with me sometime and show me your Twitter account. 2) Disparaging disbelief: It would be interesting to track the number hours you spend on Facebook.
Well...yes, it's true I should do both: Show you my twitter account and trackthe hours I spend on Facebook, but probably not for the kinds ofreasons that generate the comments I've been getting-- comments thatdon't really acknowledge the implications that social media networkshave for a lives lived in exile.

Mymom who is in her sixties and lives in Norway was the first to friendme on Facebook two years ago and since then my entire extended familyfrom South Africa to China, from Oslo to Alicante has connected, andfrankly in no insignificant ways. I Facebook message my cousin inEssen, Germany from Durham, North Carolina or New York City, USA andeven if she is not in Essen and is working instead in Johannesburg,South Africa there is no question in either of our minds that she'llget back to me immediately for whatever it is I need: a tet a tet, a quote, a piece of information, encouragement, a chat, reallywhatever, and vice versa. Our family shares photos and updates. We keepup with eachother's lives and get to know eachother's friends at adistance. We plan trips together and include those who couldn't make itin on the fun online.

In thelast year alone, I have been to Spain, to Turkey, to Chile, to Kenya,and to Norway. The connections I had or made in each place created spinoffs: the stories that were generated from my impression of the food,the colors, the events, the art, the music continue virtually onFacebook.
Let me give you an example:

Onmy last Thursday in Santiago, I discovered a whole branch of my familyin Chile at a party I happened to go to with my Norwegian/ BritishFacebook friends. My Facebook friends had just moved to Santiago fromPeru. At the party we discovered that we were all on Facebook. Wefriended eachother and posted our first collective picture the nextday. My mom posted a comment about the photo that encouraged me trackthe family connection further. My brother commented too and reminded methat he had run into "my Chilean" second cousin in a bus terminal inthe Middle East not long ago. My father, now in his seventies in Spain,had a chance to see photos of his relatives who he had last met somefifteen years ago in Santiago. I now follow my two Norwegian/BritishFacebook friends and my whole Chilean family as they get together atparties, community events, and as they celebrate business successes. Ishare in their enjoyment of eachother, the food and the music, and theculture they live and breathe. I "go on trips" with them and "watchthem" dress up for special events and "see" them pose for photos alongthe way. These daily feeds continue to inspire me from a distance andaffect my quotidian life.

That's just oneexample; one story from a Thursday of my life. There are at least tenothers I could share from the last month alone. I cannot imagine a morevibrant life at the moment without social media networks. And the hoursI do spend on them (which frankly aren't that many) are more than worththe years of separation and distance that has been my family's storyfor over thirty years.

About Me

Negar Mottahedeh

The girl behind Displaced Allegories(Duke UP, 2008). Representing the Unpresentable (Syracuse UP, 2007) andReel Evil: Films from the Axis of Evil (2003).