Wednesday, April 25, 2012


Dear Ms.Boyd,
I agree with your article "Dear Voyer, meet Flaneur... Sincerley, Social Media" that watchers and watchees finally come together in the same space. Although they have different places, social media allows them both to get what they enjoy; the people that like to be watched can parade around knowing that someone is looking, and the people that like doing the watching have tons of subjects to catch their eye. This proves to be true as you state "Facebook enables is quite different than what is made possible by reality TV". Reality TV tickles the fancy of only the voyer, yet it leaves the flaneur with an unfulfilled desire and an empty void. Now with the increasingly use of social media, everyone gets their end of the deal, and no one is left with the short end of the stick. By far this is the best use of social media in my opinion because everyone is happy- well not those that don't watch nor want to be watched. 

Something else that you said really stuck out to me. Toward the end of your article you stated "participation in digital social media often means public-by-default, private-through-effort. Being watched is simply part and parcel with participating". I do agree with this for a couple of reasons. One reason why I agree with this is because online whatever one can see is public and you're no longer the sole controller of who sees it. Another reason why I agree with this is because whether or not you're a voyer or flaneur, you're partaking in the "festivities". And as creeping as this sounds, if you're not watching someone or something, someone or something is probably watching you. 

Ayesha Go. 

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