Facebook sharing: A sociolinguistic analysis of computer-mediated storytelling

This paper examines the sharing of an unfolding life event (the remodeling of a new house) on Facebook through small story posts. The fact that someone might also choose to simultaneously share the same life event on a blog (as the poster in this paper does) suggests there is a discursive goal that the blog accomplishes that Facebook cannot; on an event-specific blog, unlike on Facebook, the posts are arranged both chronologically and consecutively, within the frame of the overall event. For this reason, the blog is able to tell a narrative, while Facebook can only suggest one. At the same time, Facebook has its own interactive successes over a blog: it is ideal for audience collection, particularly for linking a narrative with people familiar with the protagonist. This particular type of audience is then able to help create the tellability of the narrative (it is of interest because it is a life event being experienced by someone they care about) and assist in shaping the small stories and connecting them discursively with the larger narrative that exists partially on the blog, and partially yet to be experienced.