<p>you guys get really deep over facebook.</p>
<p>
[quote]
So? If all they have to say is 'im fine how r u?' why should they bother to use a real message?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>But why a wall message rather than a real message? Not everyone cares about popularity - some of the people I know who care least about popularity still post such messages on my wall.</p>
<p>==</p>
<p>
[quote]
Well, I think that you're imagining this popularity the wrong way, Inquiline. What I meant is that for many people, number of wall posts (or number of posts on their wall per day, or number of inside jokes painted on graffiti walls, or number of pictures that they're in...) correlates with popularity OUTSIDE of Facebook. I don't mean that these people are trying to appear popular within a separate online community. They want to appear as if they have lots of friends to those at their school; they use their number of wall posts as a means to quantify their popularity.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>It certainly gives the impression of correlation with popularity outside of Facebook, but my main question is - is this really the motive of nearly everyone who posts semi-personal messages on each other's facebook walls? Some people certainly care about popularity but not everyone does.</p>
<p>rockermcr's question was interesting - why would you reply with "fine, how are you?" on a facebook wall, rather than over PM/e-mail?</p>
<p>Not just that, here's a message I saw someone post on someone else's wall:</p>
<p>"For 5.) because he did examples in class for p =1 and p = 2 and those can't be possible uniformly convergence on <a href="well,%20I%20studied%20those%20examples%20really%20hard%20for%20the%20test,%20because%20I%20was%20still%20really%20fuzzy%20on%20the%20definition%20of%20uniform%20convergence%20really%20late%20last%20night,%20he%20kinda%20taught%20something%20that%20is%20quite%20different%20from%20the%20book%20or%20at%20least,%20modified%20in%20a%20way%20that%20totally%20confused%20me">0.1</a> so if fn(x) can ever converges uniformly, it has to be 0 < p < 1... which makes sense... when you go back to the basic things that he emphasized over and over again in class. I was out of my mind to say that it never converges uniformly. (Because I was thinking of natural numbers only) This is a really fatal mistakes... and I can't really integrate b.) if the answer is 0< p ♥then.. I'm kinda there, I said it's 0 < p - 2 < 1 which should gives 0 < p < 3..."</p>
<p>"That guy who sits next to you. He actually takes the same bus with me every morning usually the same time. He is a math teacher for calculus in high school I think o_O;;; and I don't know his name, but on the bus I met his wife Larua, who is in phD genome program. Oh boy, I'm so gossip, and it's so random...</p>
<p>But I complained to him so much today on our way home... so he told me that he used to be a chem major, and we were bashing bio = claiming that it is a poorly integrated pesudo-science lol..."</p>
<p>These sort of convos seem more appropriate for PMs and I see convos like that all the time. Granted, I do enjoy reading them but do most people really write them on each other's walls for the purpose of allowing others access them publicly?</p>
<p>
[quote]
you guys get really deep over facebook.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yeah - the reason is that it seems that people are a lot more comfortable using Facebook than e-mail, so it effectively means that I send and receive far more messages with Facebook than with e-mail.</p>
<p>Same with the "what classes are you taking next year?" or "wow, this looks hard" sort of posts. They're personal. Why do people post them on each other's walls?</p>
<p>As another example, here's a sample wall-to-wall between someone else and I: (why would he post it on my wall? It's interesting, really)</p>
<p>"<br>
I wrote
at 10:47pm on August 29th, 2007
holy ****, those questions are easy (with some knowledge)</p>
<p>I dunno - MIT's "honors calculus" has easy psets. But it's also hugely dependent on the idiosyncrasies of the professor. Maybe it was unusually easy one year.
Wall-to-Wall - Write on My Wall - Delete</p>
<p>X (UChicago) shared a link
at 10:44pm on August 29th, 2007
<a href="http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Mathematics/18-100BFall-2006/Assignments/index.htm%5B/url%5D">http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Mathematics/18-100BFall-2006/Assignments/index.htm</a></p>
<p>Assignment 3. The first three questions are just... pathetic. I don't know how this can be thought of as difficult. Admittedly, I'm not even that good at analysis yet.
MIT OpenCourseWare | Mathematics | 18.100B Analysis I, Fa...
MIT OpenCourseWare | Mathematics | 18.100B Analysis I, Fall 2006 | Assignments
<a href="http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Mathematics/18-100BFall-%5B/url%5D">http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Mathematics/18-100BFall-</a>...
For each assignment, first solve the corresponding assignment in the study materials section and check your answers. The solutions are courtesy of Xiaoguang Ma and Sawyer Tabony.
Wall-to-Wall - Write on Jonathan's Wall - Message - Delete</p>
<p>I wrote
at 10:29pm on August 29th, 2007
Or theoretical version.</p>
<p>The Techers at the Caltech forums say that the analytic sections aren't necessarily harder than the practical ones (just different types of reasoning required). There are some personalities that will be at relative ease with theoretical problems, and find such problems easier.
Wall-to-Wall - Write on My Wall - Delete</p>
<p>I shared a link
at 10:25pm on August 29th, 2007
<a href="http://student.mit.edu/catalog/m18a.html%5B/url%5D">http://student.mit.edu/catalog/m18a.html</a></p>
<p>Yep, it's the hard version</p>
<p>Was it the first HW assignment though? Or one in the middle?
Course 18: Mathematics
Course 18: Mathematics
<a href="http://student.mit.edu/catalog/m18a.html%5B/url%5D">http://student.mit.edu/catalog/m18a.html</a>
18.01 Calculus (, ) Prereq: --Units: 5-0-7Credit cannot also be received for 18.014, 18.01AURL: <a href="http://www-math.mit.edu/%7Eostrover/1801/18.01-Calculus07Spring.html%5B/url%5D">http://www-math.mit.edu/%7Eostrover/1801/18.01-Calculus07Spring.html</a> Lecture: TR1,F2 (54-100) Recitation: ...
Wall-to-Wall - Write on My Wall - Delete</p>
<p>X(UChicago) wrote
at 10:15pm on August 29th, 2007
Is 18.100B the HARD version of analysis at MIT??? I just finished one of their 7-problem psets within 30 minutes without looking at the answer key, and I got all of them right."</p>
<p>So basically what you're saying is you lurk in other peoples' personal facebook pages and critique how their friends interact with them on a day to day basis.</p>
<p>
[quote]
So basically what you're saying is you lurk in other peoples' personal facebook pages and critique how their friends interact with them on a day to day basis.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>It's not criticism - it's curiosity. I actually welcome the exchange people have with each other on each other's walls - after all - it's a welcome source of information</p>
<p>This was also why I didn't deactivate my facebook when I wanted to - because it effectively meant that fewer people would be inclined to talk to me.</p>
<p>Everything someone has to say about themselves is personal information. Not all of this personal information, however, is information that should be kept secret, for whatever reason. If you feel like telling one of your friends that you're sad because the summer is ending, and if you don't care about other people reading this, you could freely write it on your friend's wall. Yes, it is personal information, but it isn't information that is important, and thus personal in the sense that you'd rather keep it to yourself.</p>
<p>I don't think its the number really, I think people just feel important to be making plans or talking to someone where everyone else can see what theyre saying..
and think about it..if you post on someone's wall, then they will usually post back and doesn't having wall posts make people happy?</p>
<p>Well if it's just a curious question, then your answer has already been stated numerous times (1. It requires less keystrokes 2. they want others to read it) and you are now just indirectly stating that you feel your negative opinion on the matter is superior instead of thanking us for our insightful information regarding the issue.</p>
<p>I don't know if this is just me, but I tend to unconsciously judge people based on how many wall posts they have. If I see a profile with ~5 posts, I'll assume that the person is either new to Facebook, or that they simply don't have very many friends (whether it be friends who use Facebook, or friends in general). If I see a profile with 2000 wall posts (yes, I have actually seen this), I'll assume that the person has a lot of friends who use Facebook, and I might also assume that the person spends way too much time on the computer.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Same with the "what classes are you taking next year?" or "wow, this looks hard" sort of posts. They're personal. Why do people post them on each other's walls?
[/quote]
Really...? I don't really think of those as extremely personal messages. What do you consider a normal/"acceptable" wall message?</p>
<p>
[quote]
If I see a profile with 2000 wall posts (yes, I have actually seen this), I'll assume that the person has a lot of friends who use Facebook, and I might also assume that the person spends way too much time on the computer.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yes, I don't think the second connotation is what most people would want to be associated with. It could be that those who care more about perceived outside popularity also care more about perceived "hours of time wasted on the Internet"</p>
<p>
[quote]
Really...? I don't really think of those as extremely personal messages. What do you consider a normal/"acceptable" wall message?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>A message that would just as easily be exchanged over PM/e-mail.</p>
<p>
[quote]
A message that would just as easily be exchanged over PM/e-mail.
[/quote]
Isn't that contrary to what you've been arguing this entire time? That matters that would be discussed in emails SHOULDN'T be posted on Facebook walls?</p>
<p>
[quote]
Isn't that contrary to what you've been arguing this entire time? That matters that would be discussed in emails SHOULDN'T be posted on Facebook walls?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I wasn't arguing that they SHOULDN'T be posted on Facebook walls - I was inquiring why they are posted on facebook walls even when the rational agent is sometimes better off exchanging such info via personal messages. (by means of a Devil's Advocate argument - that was my intention - I should have been more explicit about it)</p>
<p>By the way, I often make inquiries of people's attitudes/behaviors by means of null hypotheses/devil's advocate - this has the tendency to provoke the most direct responses to the object of my curiosity</p>
<p>small tip: try to ask it around in Facebook where u'll find 'more' Facebookers. :p</p>
<p>clearly, the justification for posting in a public wall type forum is to show off, as I illustrate in a wall post to my friend jim from a couple months ago on this topic:</p>
<p>
[quote]
is the point of jim's wall to write something for jim to read? or is the point to write something for jim to read and have everyone read it too?</p>
<p>while you [the reader] are thinking about that one...</p>
<hr>
<p>jim-
thanks for the working lunch today. hopefully we'll run into mischa barton again. that was pretty random...
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I discuss my private matters on AIM...my wall is only for posts that I don't care if people read.</p>
<p>If its a private matter, I'll do so in person or on the phone. My friends and I just write a bunch of inside jokes and stuff like that on eachothers walls.</p>
<p>
There also this one guy who just stopped responding to my e-mails once he took over my facebook wall
</p>
<p>Oh wow, thanks a lot IK.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Quote:
A message that would just as easily be exchanged over PM/e-mail.
[quote]
Isn't that contrary to what you've been arguing this entire time? That matters that would be discussed in emails SHOULDN'T be posted on Facebook walls?
[/quote]
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Actually it was - sorry - I was drowsy and non-alert (and fell asleep soon afterwards) [my response was an automatic response that I tend to repeat subconsciously]. Okay, what I would consider "acceptable" by means of such argument is a message that was intended to be read by (a) other people or (b) a message that was intended to boost one's wall count. Seeing that most wall posts don't seem to be (a) or (b), my original question was why people post on walls when (a) or (b) don't apply. </p>
<p>
[quote]
Oh wow, thanks a lot IK.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Lawl. :p But you refuse to let me befriend fellow CCers due to your wall posts. ^_^</p>
<p>Now that I think about it, I'm not sure why I post superfluous amounts of messages on your wall. Although I also do a lot of Facebook PMing, I think this is an interesting psychological question to ask. My guess is that wall posting is seemingly less of a hassle and perceivably "easier" to do than specifying directly a person in emails/private messages. Nevertheless, wall posting seems to have taken up a lot of my daily mind share lately - so email just seems to be one of those seemingly less efficient, slower ways of doing things.</p>