Blog 10

Does Facebook and Its Users Constitute a Superorganism?”

Upon reading the article, The Construction of a Superorganism, I have determined that Facebook and its users constitute a superorganism. This can be displayed in a variety of examples. First and foremost, there are a variety of simple users that are all a part of Facebook. Divided and separated, they are insignificant. United, they form a complex community. Each user may also perform a task that affects another user; therefore the user that is affected may affect another user, thus stimulating a chain reaction. A specific example that occurs is the concept of creating an event on Facebook. Say “user A” creates an event on Facebook and invites “user B.” “user B” can now invite “user C” who can now invite “user D”, and so on. Although Facebook serves as a social network to connect people across the globe, each person remains their own singular entity, distinguished by their own identity. According the article, a superorganism maintains some sort of organization in which the community as a whole is divided into various parts. This facet of superorganisms can be portrayed on Facebook. For example, private groups can be created which can only be accessed by those invited to the group. Those who are members of the group can converse with other members, and can react and react to their fellow members’ posts. The article also talks about the idea of competition arising in the superorganism. One example of competition on Facebook can be seen when two separate users vie to attain the most amount of friends, in order to secure a sense of popularity. These users are also known as the social components of this superorganism. They tend to overshadow those who are less active on Facebook. Those who spend less time on Facebook, makes less statuses, post less pictures, and have less friends, tend to “occupy the margins,” thus making them the “solitary” components of this superorganism, as the article suggests. Overall, the levels of social organization, displays of action and reaction, and the unifying affect of this buzzing community categorize Facebook and its users as a superorganism.