Flaneur's of Facebook

Image 1: Melbournes arcades (from www.thatsmelbourne.com.au)

If there is any form of social networking that has given new life to the term ‘flaneur’, it is Facebook. The term is now used to “describe someone adrift in the city, a detached observer strolling through the streets at a leisurely pace.” (Prouty, 2009) Its users are able to explore the virtual arcades of the Internet with freedom and ease, while remaining as seen or unseen as they wish, travelling through cyberspace observing much like a real life Flaneur would. 

Facebook allows its users to put on a similar front to the concept of the Flaneur, while your name may be seen by others, what you reveal to others is in your power and has made Facebook the new age Flaneur’s online arcade.

Facebook is the perfect breeding ground for the modern cyber-flaneur. It is a ‘thickly massed population, where each individual unbeknownst to all the others, hides in the crowd, so to speak and blushes before the eyes of no one.” (Barnes, 1997) It could be said that in a way we are all flaneur’s of Facebook’s arcades, observing others, with others doing the same to us, yet it is very rare that what goes online is the truth.

We give others rose coloured classes into our social networking lives, yet we always maintain a certain level of preferred personal anonymity. We all enjoy the idea of having our photo’s liked and our posts seen, yet at the same time we enjoy scrolling past without a trace at times, merely watching our virtual surroundings.

A flaneur is said to “take in their environments in a distracted manner” (Prouty, 2009) just as we do in the virtual arcades of Facebook, making us in a sense, all social media flaneurs.

References:

Barnes, G. (1997). Passages of the Cyber-Flanuer. [sic] Otago University. Otago, New Zealand. Retrieved from http://www.raynbird.com/essays/Passage_Flaneur.html  / learnjcu.edu.au

Prouty, R. (2009). One-Way Street: A Turtle on Leash. Retrieved from http://www.onewaystreet.typepad.com/one_way_street/2009/10/a-turtle-on-a-leash.html  / learnjcu.edu.au

Laneways and Arcades. (2016). City of Melbourne - Whats on. Retrieved from http://www.thatsmelbourne.com.au/Placestogo/LanewaysandArcades/Pages/LanewaysandArcades.aspx