Facebookaholics Anonymous Meeting Script/Plan

Plan – Facebookaholics Anonymous

Intro

* Thank members for attending

* Introductions and how often they use Facebook

* Explain purpose of the group and the intentions – read the leaflet out

* Talk about confidentiality and honesty/respect

* Disclaimers – all must sign

* Brief intro to concept of fb identity and social identity construction

Group discussions

* Does your Facebook profile really represent you, if yes in what ways?

* Have you ever lied or exaggerated the truth on Facebook, if so why and what

* How often do you post something fairly mundane/boring on your own or someones elses timeline, why?

* Why do we feel annoyed about people posting mundane/boring things on their profiles, should we feel annoyed?

* Would you be happy if there was no way to untag or remove things from your timeline?

* Would you be happy if everything you did in a day was posted on your timeline as a status and why?

* How selective are you with your profile pictures/photos you are tagged in, and why?

BREAK

Split into pairs and hand out paper and pens

Pair discussions

* Why would you try and alter your identity for Facebook?

* How is your online identity different from the real life you and how? (photos, statuses, fitting in with social groups, music, films, ‘likes’ – selection and choice)

* How often do you write how you really feel in a status?

* Are you happy with how you come across in our Facebook profile?

* Have you ever posted something or changed your profile picture, then removed it because no one ‘liked’ it? And why?

* If you had to make your Facebook identity more representative of your real life identity, what would you change?

* Who are you trying to impress/ fit in with through the construction of your Facebook identity?

Feedback on pair discussions – Any issues raised etc

Confession Time

* Is there anything you would like to share with the group, anything you feel embarrassed about your profile… something you’ve done, or not done, hidden, posted, stalked, lied etc

* Thank group for sharing

* Any feedback

* Any thoughts provoked from the session

Facebookaholics Ethos

We began by outlining the points we felt were important to be included in the organisations ethos through mind-mapping, these were the following:

• Promoting the realisation of social identity, and people becoming more aware of how they are portraying themselves
• Non-profit organisation
• Founded in 2013, by Tess and I
• Aims – Raising awareness of the social identity crisis and the construction of it
  Researching into the public ‘s construction of their Facebook Identity
  Identifying key area’s and the reasons for this problem
• Why – Trying to identify why it is that people feel the need to construct a fake identity that is un-representative
• Offering support to people expressing difficulties with their Facebook identity or an addiction to Facebook

 

We collectively came up with the following Ethos for Facebookaholics:

Facebookaholics was founded in 2013 by Esther Yates and Jemima Williams. The organisation aims to raise awareness of social identity construction with regards to Facebook. Alongside this, interaction with the general public to collect research enables FA to identify key areas and reasons for this crisis. FA aims to offer support to people expressing difficulty with their Facebook identity or an addiction to Facebook. Promotion of the realisation of social identity is key allowing the public to become more aware of how they portray their virtual selves.

Bibliography:

Alcoholissues.co.uk. 2013. About Alcoholics Anonymous and Support. [online] Available at: http://www.alcoholissues.co.uk/about-alcoholics-anonymous-support.html [Accessed: 5 Dec 2013].