Lookie Here

Pictures are becoming increasingly important in our visually-orientated culture, specifically in social media, shaping a sense of place. Take Hawaii for example, you can visually see the beach and the sun, but the picture itself cannot convey the sensory effects. Tuan (1991, p. 694) states that “warm conversation with friends can make the place itself seem warm” which is why pictures rely on linguistic communication to visually orientate place. Words supply a “temporal dimension to landscape that the visual image alone cannot provide” (Tuan, 1991, p. 691). Without a combination of pictures and words, it is impossible to feel the sensation of Hawaiian sand between your toes, which makes a picture a form of narrative.

Language, icons and pictures are all components of narratives on Facebook. Advertisements, memes, birthday celebrations, and the latest news are posted for user consumption, where readers (friends) can create narratives through the way in which they act. Guynn (2016) states that online icons are the “new shorthand to express thoughts and feelings”. The ability to share these personal opinions contributes to shaping a sense of place, thus allowing Facebook posts to become narratives with a purpose (Kuttainen, 2016). This brands the narrative components as key features in the Facebook context.

Social media has created this intense desire and opportunity to share what we learn in life and about ourselves. Humans are visual creatures, meaning most of us process information based on what we see. Narratives on Facebook are formatted through photos and captions so that information is digestible for users to consume, react, and share. This enables users to easily create a sense of place through social interaction. The aspect of human communication adds to the warmth and aliveness of a place (Tuan, 1991, p. 690), contributing to narratives on Facebook being a reflection of our identity through the story which we choose to tell.

References

Guynn, J. (2016). Meet Facebook's new emoting emojis: love, haha, wow, sad and angry. Retrieved from USA TODAY: http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2016/02/24/facebook-reactions-launch/80803468/

Kuttainen, V. (2016). BA1002. Week 5. [PowerPoint Slides]. Retrieved from https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_76323_1&content_id=_2422311_1

Tuan, Y.-F. (1991). Language and the Making of Place: A Narrative-Descriptive Approach. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 81(4), 690-694. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2563430