Facebook is a space in which online sociality is performed both at the ground level and the
national level, but Facebook as a company, the people creating the social frames on the
platform, is not connected to Myanmar specifically. Facebook has its own set of rules,
guidelines, and therefore, social frames, which is consistent and not changing according to
borders. They stay the same in every country. It is then between these three levels, my
informants find themselves and to some extent, negotiate between the different social frames
of how to perform a socially accepted behavior.
This chapter will discuss and explain how this performed sociality plays out and what frames
that surround it. In which ways do these levels appear when looking at actions and outcomes?
To be able to do this, I will first address how Facebook, the platform, functions in terms of
algorithms. What is the job of the algorithm, and can they be manipulated in any way? To
what extent can Facebook work as an echo chamber? How does Facebook´s security system
work in Myanmar? Exemplified, through the case of the Rohingya crisis and hate speech on
Facebook, I will show why it is essential to discuss and be aware of such questions.
Facebook – “The Happy Place”
We can look at Facebook as one big infrastructure which entails and holds the structure for
several smaller systems that function within the platform. With a focus on algorithms, it is
easy to recognize a pattern. It is well known that Facebook's algorithms show content in the
feed that they predict that a person likes and enjoys. The algorithms’ main goal is to shape the
feed into a personal “happy place,” personalized to fit someone’s particular interests. The
algorithms collect information from posts, responses, and online interaction. This can be
information like a “like” or a comment, and specific post one spends more time to read or
what someone passes quickly by. They can pick up words or other vital points that can give a
clue of what would entertain a specific person. Most people would have experienced that if
you respond or search for something specific, the next day, something similar will most likely
be shown in your Facebook feed.
My friend Dedan once told me how he trains his Facebook feed. We were sitting in our
regular place in 19th street, eating BBQ-food and sipping cold, fresh Myanmar Beer. I told
him how annoyed I was of some commercials on Facebook, and how I was tired of the same
kind of content popping up regularly just after looking for it. Laughing, he looked at me like I
had missed out on something obvious. Dedan told me how he trained his feed. If he had, for
example, a period where he was more interested in cars, he would spend some time searching
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