Writer's Journal #11

My context element is going to be Facebook. With Facebook there are multiple interfaces but one that stands out to me is Facebook messenger. Facebook messenger is a messaging system within the Facebook website and app. With Facebook messenger, you can message anybody that is your friend on Facebook. You can even message people that are not your friends, but they have to accept the message to be able to respond to you. It is sort of like texting but with your Facebook friends. You can also do more with the Facebook interface like send emojis, send photos, send and receive payments, and video chat your friends. The messenger interface has even more interfaces attached to it. Facebook messenger sort of becomes its own context element because it has so many interfaces attached as well.

I use Facebook messenger to send my boyfriend money every month for my rent of $250. All I have to do is connect my bank account to my Facebook one time and then anytime I want to, I can send any of my Facebook friends’ money. Luckily, if they have their bank set up too, it instantly transfers to their checking account. This is a way of communication through the messenger app because he needs to know that I have paid my rent for that month.

The Facebook interface, Facebook messenger, shapes communication by opening doors that otherwise would not exist. Everything that Facebook messenger does exists in the world but not all in one piece. It gives the people the opportunity to communicate through messaging but also with multimodel elements lie images, emojis, and videos. Being able to use emojis and gifs (short picture clips) helps people express more emotion-based thoughts and feelings. People can add facial expressions to their writing to make a point stronger. People can also use new ways of communication like sarcasm. For example, you could say “yeah I’m so excited” and then add the straight face emoji to the message. People can understand that the sentence “yeah I’m so happy” is sarcastic due to the emoji included in the message.