Gone are the days of profile updates, wall messages, and poking.
Farewell to clicking "Not Attending" for events in America.
Adieu Scrabulous.
Just two months ago, my friend O and I were chatting about Facebook as a public sphere. We were saying how it was one of the only--if not the only--public spaces for free association. Sure, the bodies and the language are digital; nonetheless, it is a revolutionary public sphere where individuals can assemble into groups and express their thoughts in an open forum.
Given that the Assad regime isn't so fond of free association/assembly and of unregulated expression in general, it doesn't really surprise me that the government has blocked Facebook. However, I am shocked that they were perceptive enough to realize what a major role it plays in everyday life here.
The government has knocked my-facebook-self into a coma.
Wikipedia writes,
"A notable ancillary effect of social networking websites, particularly Facebook, is the ability for participants to mourn publicly for a deceased individual. On Facebook, students often leave messages of sadness, grief, or hope on the individual's page, transforming it into a sort of public book of condolences. This particular phenomenon has been documented at a number of schools. Previously, Facebook had stated that its official policy on the matter was to remove the profile of the deceased one month after he or she has died,preventing the profile from being used for communal mourning, citing privacy concerns. Due to user response, Facebook amended its policy. Its new policy is to place deceased members' profiles in a "memorialization state".
Additional usage of Facebook as a tool of remembrance is expressed in group memberships on the site. Now that groups are community-wide and available among all networks, many users create Facebook groups to remember not only a deceased friend or individual, but also as a source of support in response to an occurrence such as 9/11 or the Virginia Tech massacre in April 2007."
How will Facebook respond to all of us comatose Syrians?Our profiles are now memorials. Does that mean we're dead?
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