I don't think Facebook makes the grade.

I am hesitant to say that the reason people flock to Facebook is based in Collins concept of ritual interaction chains.  Collins reveals that ritual interaction chains have several parts, including, “two or more people physically assembled; boundaries to outsides; a common focus of attention through which the participants become ‘mutually aware of each other’s focus of attention;’ sharing a common mood” (74). 

First, Collins believes that people must be co-present in order for this increased solidarity through mutual interaction to increase. Now, I know that the author is extending these theories to include mediated interaction; however, I feel that the mediated interaction of the mobile phone is closer to co-presence than Facebook. A phone conversation is more personal and is capable of better mimicking co-present interactions because a person can hear tone of voice, pauses in the conversation, cues to continue the conversation, etc. Even texting, I feel, has become a more personal form of communication as compared to Facebook because not only do you have to know the person in order to get their number, but text messages usually involve more personal content because it cannot be conveyed in the public domain of Facebook.

I will admit that Facebook may be an attempt to create a ritual interaction chain virtually, that the human need to interact has lead to the creation of sites such as this; however, I do not feel it is affective in completing this task. To continue with Collins requirements, Facebook does have boundaries to the outside in that if a person does not sign up for the site, then they are not a part of the group. At the same time, this site is free so anyone can join and a person is only as connected as they want to be through the selection and rejection of friend request.

 Furthermore, the idea that Facebook creates “a common focus of attention through which the participants become ‘mutually aware of each other’s focus of attention’ is true to an extent. But similar to its boundaries, Facebook is a self-selecting service in that we only have to concentrate on what we want pay attention to. I personally do not pay attention to half of the statuses on my news feed, and when I do, I don’t feel like I am becoming mutually aware of anything or “sharing a common mood” for that matter. Unless it’s a close friend (whom I have already established a relationship with through co-presence), I don’t particularly feel the strong, emotional connection that Durkheim, Goffman and Collins discuss.

Therefore, I think that Facebook may be an attempt to create a ritual interaction chain; however, it is not particularly successful.