Seeing a picture or mention of someone I know in the newspaper or on television used to be a big deal. Today, I visited the Web site of my hometown newspaper and saw a picture of someone I know on the homepage. (No, they hadn’t been arrested. It was taken at a local event.) I didn’t immediately register seeing this photo the way I would if I had seen her in the newspaper, though. In fact, it took me a moment to remember what site I was on and that this photo was published for all the world to see.
I realized that I’ve grown accustomed to seeing this person (and people I know, in general) on Facebook so much that seeing her on the newspaper site wasn’t a big deal. Now, media psychology is not my area, but it seems to me that this means something in terms of the way we process information online, on social networking sites, and/or in media in general. There’s probably a theory involving familiarity and recognition to apply. So if any of you media effects/psychology/human-computer interaction folks want to take a stab at that one… have at it. It’s not my thing, but I’m curious.
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