Politics of Self-Interpretation and Design of Facebook

I found Gillespie's examples of "self-interpretation" and "politics of design" very interesting. He says that an artifact can attempt to "define, enable, and constrain" who is using it and how it will be used. He also explains that through design certain metaphors can make up a whole language surrounding the artifact that can create "social realities."

Facebook's home page states that "Facebook is a social utility that connects you with the people around you." It encourages users to connect with the people they know through school or work. When Facebook originated, only academic e-mails were accepted as users. This constrained it's users from "befriending" anyone outside the academic world and enabled users to join student groups, announce school events, and discuss university issues. Although this rule has changed, it still prides itself on being a "safe" or "private" network where you can connect with people who you could have known from an institution otherwise. When requesting a friend, Facebook asks how you know the person, providing a limited list of choices. There is an option that you can select if you do not know this person, to which Facebook replies "then why do you want to be there friend?"

The metaphors Facebook uses emphasizes the great social connections you have with your "friends." Say it's your "friend's" birthday. You can "poke" them, buy them a birthday "gift", send them a drink at "happy hour", "invite" them to your next party, and write on their "wall" without ever seeing or speaking to them. The language of Facebook creates a "social reality" as, not necessarily a substitute for, but rather, a parallel to one's social life. The two can coexist and mesh in reality and virtual reality.