Facebook reactions: The path to lazy communication

The Oxford Dictionary defines communication as “The imparting or exchanging of information by speaking, writing, or using some other medium.” (Oxford, 2019). This definition is true to a certain extent but the scope of communication reaches much farther than that and is quite complicated. For example if we look at semiotics, the study of signs and symbols, we can tell that communication goes beyond just the exchanging of information. Every time we interpret the meaning of signs, images, memes, on blogs or on the internet we are using a form of semiotics (Kuttainen, 2019). 

Facebook is a social media platform that was founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook, 2019). Facebook claims that its mission is to “give people the power to build community and bring the world together.” (Facebook, 2019). Currently Facebook has 1.59 billion active users on average a day (Facebook, 2019). The application/website can be used to share images and statuses and even buy, swap or sell products. Originally the app had three main ways to respond to another person’s post, liking, commenting and sharing. In February 2016, Facebook released a feature that allowed users to “react” to a post with one of six icons, a thumbs up (the original like button), a love heart, a laughing face, a surprised face, a sad face and angry face. The general idea being that this feature would make it easier for users to communicate more accurately about how they felt about a particular post, without having to comment. 

 Figure 1. Facebook Reacts (Facebook, 2019)

      
While investigating communication and its relationship with social media I began to wonder, how can one icon/symbol effectively convey exactly how I feel about a post? For instance, if someone posts a lengthy status about a particular subject, and I agree with some parts of it and disagree with other parts, how should I “react”? It is also important to look at how different users interpret the icons, everyone views certain images in a different way. If a person uses the surprised face to react to a post, are they shocked or in awe? Social media platforms are always looking for ways to make their applications more user friendly and easier to use in general, it is in this process that we can become lazy in our communication and therefore it is not accurate and/or effective in the way it should be. 

When we become lazy in the way we communicate, it creates gaps within our society. Just like and other structure, if language is not maintained and improved upon, it will soon fall apart (Tuan, 1991). Communicating effectively on social media using words is difficult enough if you add in the factor of sarcasm and the lack of tone of voice, so we need to begin ask ourselves, are the “reacts” making our lives easier or harder?





References

Facebook. (2019). Our History. Retrieved from Facebook Newsroom: https://newsroom.fb.com/company-info/

Facebook. (2019). Reactions. Retrieved from Facebook Brand Resource Center: https://en.facebookbrand.com/assets/reactions/

Kuttainen, V. (2019). BA1002 Our Space: Networks, Narratives, and the Making of Place Week 5 Narrative and Communication. [PowerPoint Slides]. Retrieved from https://learn.jcu.edu.au/ultra/courses/_97532_1/outline

Oxford. (2019). Communication. Retrieved from Lexico: https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/communication

Tuan, Y. (1991). Language and the making of place: A narrative-descriptive approach. Association of American Geographers, 81(4), 684-696.