Facebook’s New Feature and Strong Triadic Closure
Facebook has become a tool for users to add not only their close friends and family but also mutual friends that they’ve never talked to or met. A few Facebook users tend to also add strangers so that they may seem to be more popular in comparison to other users. As a result, this has led to many cases of spams, stalking and even cyber attacks. Considering the potential danger, many users have complained that they would like to let only their close friends and families see their profile without sacrificing their freedom to add other non-close friends. The article suggests that someone named Devesh Logendran found few new features for Facebook after digging through the APK for the app’s latest beta. One of his findings is that Facebook is currently testing a “create private profile” button so that only the users’ closest friends can see. Having a private profile could help Facebook feel more personal but managing and deciding who their “close friends” are can become tedious. It is still a work-in-progress, so it’s possible that this feature will never come out to the public.
The article reminded me of the strong/weak ties we learned in the course. Having this private profile means that it separates those who have a strong tie with the user to those who have a weak tie. As the user creates this profile, those who can access to it can clearly identify themselves as a close friend with a strong tie with the user. Therefore, according to the Strong Triadic Closure Property, these close friends with the user can quickly form at least a weak tie with each other. My take on this new Facebook feature is that it allows friends to clearly classify themselves as close friends or not, which in the current version of Facebook friends of a user will have a hard time not only judging whether another friend of the same user is a close friend or not but also judging themselves. Just like what the article stated: “After all, not everyone on Facebook is really your friend.”