disemnination of geographic infiormations by facebook

8/12/2019 Disemnination of Geographic Infiormations by Facebook

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Studii i cercetri, seria Geologie-Geografie, 18, Complexul MuzealBistria-Nsud, 2013, p.87-95

THE DISSEMINATION OF GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATIONS BY

FACEBOOK

Ioan BCA1

Abstract. Facebook is the second global social site after Google, which in recent years hasacquired true cultural and educational functions as they contribute to the dissemination ofinformation from diverse areas of interest. For geography, facebook is particularly usefulbecause, through it the specialized information is disseminated to a large number of applicants(students, teachers, researchers, professionals in various fields, ordinary people).Dependingon the source that contributes to the movement of geographic information there is followingtypes of accounts on the network: private parties, specialized institutions (universities,colleges, research institutes), organizations (environment, ecology), travel agencies, travelservice providers and specialists (teachers, researchers), interest groups. Depending thestructure of geographic information posted on Facebook distinguish information as: photos,articles, films, announcements, posters, travel packages, etc. This study aims to highlight theimportance of Facebook not only as social network, but also as a way of disseminatinggeographic information, both between specialists and the general public.

Key words: facebook, social-network, geography

Introduction

Facebook is a social network on the Internet, created by Mark Zuckerberg in2004 to provide the opportunity to contact people close, but people still unknown. Atfirst, network operating in closed circuit in Harvard University in the U.S., but from2006 this network is public. The number of users has increased continuously, so thatin 2013 it was 1.1 billion (table 1, table 2)

Table 1. Number of Facebook users in several American cities in 2007

New York 273530

Chicago 246759

Washington 210160

Boston 171837

1Babe-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca, Faculty of Geography

Coresponding author: Ioan Bca, Babe-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca, Faculty of TourismGeography, Bistria Extension, Andrei Mureanu st., No. 3-5, Bistria, Romania, e-mail:[email protected]


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Atlanta 156643

Los Angeles 144718

Dallas / Fort Worth 120602

Minneapolis / St. Paul 114404Philadelphia 112495

Detroit 110704

Source: http://blog.geoiq.com/2007/07/18/the-geography-of-facebook/

Table 2. Evolution of the number of Facebook users

Year and month Number of users (millions)August 26, 2008 100April 8, 2009 200September 15, 2009 300February 5, 2010 400July 21, 2010 500January 5, 2011 600May 30, 2011 700 700September 22, 2011 800

April 24, 2012 900October 4, 2012 1,000March 31, 2013 1,110

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook

In Romania network Facebook had 0.5 million users in January 2010, 2.4million users in January 2011, over 3.7 million track users in September 2011 and 5,8million users in 2013. The age and genre situation of facebook users in Romania is

shown in figure 1. As you can see, most users are young, which is relevant forgeographic information collection be cause young people communicate more witheach other, have more concern about the life in nature, travel more and needinformation in their training school.

In Europe, the number of facebook users in 2012 was 319,9 million, of wich174.2 million in Western Europe, and 145.6 million in Eastern Europe, according toeMarketer's estimates (source http://www.newmediatrendwatch.com/regional-overview/103-europe?start=5). The facebook users percentage in Europe countrys isshown in fig. 2.

Hailed as the second social world site after google.com by number of visits,Facebook is part of the recent phenomenon called Web 2.0. Regarding the age of the


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users, it is observed that the largest share is young, because on the one hand, they feelthe need to socialize, and on the other hand, have computer knowledge, necessary toaccess and managing the facebook account (fig. 3).

Fig.1-The chart by age and genre of Romanian facebok users in 2013(source http://www.ziare.com/facebook/utilizatori/peste-5-8-milioane-de-romani-au-cont-de-

facebook-vezi-topul-oraselor-infografic-1223454)

Fig.2-The chart of facebook users in Europe in 2012(source http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2340893/Britons-second-prolific-Facebook-Twitter-users-EUROPE-fifth-aged-65.html)


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Fig.3-Facebook users by age diagram(source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook)

Facebook site by its social character, has become in recent years the truecultural and educational functions. The mode of organization and operation, thisnetwork can post a variety of information from different areas of interest, articles,announcements, photos, videos, and can engage in dialogue on various issues that mayelucidate some problems.

The geography network Facebook has a specific role in disseminatinginformation in several ways, as follows:-aims posts spatial distribution of events within the geographical cover;-users post various information of interest Environmental, social-economic, cultural,geological, meteorological, etc.;-users post pictures of landscapes and other subjects that reflect geographical reality(customs, traditions, cultural events, geomorphological processes, urbanization,tourism, etc.);-users swapped views on different aspects of transformations of the surrounding worldin various fields (social, economic, natural);-posts help promote tourism in some regions with attractive potential.

In this context, one can define the following situations:-the existence of facebook accounts belonging to geographical education institutions(faculties of geography in particular);-theexistence of facebook accounts belonging to organizations or groups promotingcertain geographical aspects (tourism, hazards, demography, ethnography, ecology,environment, etc.);-the existence of facebook accounts belonging to teachers of geography, biology,ecology specialists, etc.;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebookhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook


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-the existence of personal facebook accounts within which promotes different aspectsof the natural environment, customs, cultural events, sports, tourism, etc., lived bytheir owners;-theexistence of groups on Facebook in the Faculty of Geography, which promotesvarious geographical aspects (interesting places, articles, announcements, tourism,

etc.).

Materials and methods

To achieve the present study were consulted several websites that containinformation about network dealing facebook and dissemination of geographicalinformation (institutions, organizations, professionals, academics, researchers,students, pupils) as follows:-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook;

-https://www.facebook.com/natgeo;-https://sites.google.com/site/mrgriffith6/geography-of-facebook;-http://blog.geoiq.com/2007/07/18/the-geography-of-facebook/;-https://www.facebook.com/WorldGeographyBlog;-http://www.geographypods.com/using-facebook.html;-https://www.facebook.com/pages/Geography-Awareness-Week/113008925394396;-http://datamining.typepad.com/data_mining/2010/05/ethnicity-and-geography-of-facebook-users.html;-http://socialerr.com/facebook/facebook-geography-fail/.

Also were consulted numerous Facebook pages of some individuals to selectgeography posted, and conducted a survey using a questionnaire to highlight theimportance of Facebook for geography.

Results and discussions

Facebook pages of the Faculty of Geography posts various information ofinterest related to conferences, scientific articles, photos, announcements, studentactivities and student circles.

Facebook pages of some geography teachers in the country are posted lessons

for students and other geographically information. Students interested can accessthose pages belonging to their teachers, to document or to take different topics. Numerous geographical information are posted on the National Geographic Facebookpage. These are the specialized articles and photos that are a valuable source ofdocumentation and educating those interested.Areas covered are the planet flora andfauna, ecosystems, culture and civilization, geological phenomena, geomorphology,atmosphere and weather, protected areas, etc. (fig. 2).

National Parks posted on their Facebook page important geographicalinformation (National Park Service, Grand Teton National Park, NSW National Parks

and Wildlife Service, Denali National Park and Preserve, Grand Canyon NationalPark, Alaska National Parks, Yellowstone National Park, Retezat National Park,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/natgeohttps://sites.google.com/site/mrgriffith6/geography-of-facebookhttp://blog.geoiq.com/2007/07/18/the-geography-of-facebook/https://www.facebook.com/WorldGeographyBloghttp://www.geographypods.com/using-facebook.htmlhttps://www.facebook.com/pages/Geography-Awareness-Week/113008925394396http://datamining.typepad.com/data_mining/2010/05/ethnicity-and-geography-of-facebook-users.htmlhttp://datamining.typepad.com/data_mining/2010/05/ethnicity-and-geography-of-facebook-users.htmlhttp://socialerr.com/facebook/facebook-geography-fail/http://socialerr.com/facebook/facebook-geography-fail/http://datamining.typepad.com/data_mining/2010/05/ethnicity-and-geography-of-facebook-users.htmlhttp://datamining.typepad.com/data_mining/2010/05/ethnicity-and-geography-of-facebook-users.htmlhttps://www.facebook.com/pages/Geography-Awareness-Week/113008925394396http://www.geographypods.com/using-facebook.htmlhttps://www.facebook.com/WorldGeographyBloghttp://blog.geoiq.com/2007/07/18/the-geography-of-facebook/https://sites.google.com/site/mrgriffith6/geography-of-facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/natgeohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook


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Macin National Park, etc.) about organizational activities, tourism and educationtaking place within them, of protected items about environmental protection andconservation, etc. (fig.3).

Facebook pages of some organizations concerned with the environment,containing various information. For example:

-Geographypods.com post a series of articles such as: Flood effects threatenNepal tourism; What causes sinkholes?; What Antarctica looked like before the ice;That's what I call mountain biking ! ; Earth's core far hotter than thought; etc.;-World Geography Blog post: Popularity of Google in Africa; South Sudan plansanimalcities; African Renaissance and Intellectual Property; The Hala'ib Triangleand why National Geographic has it Wrong; etc.;

Fig.2-The National Geografic Facebook(Source: https://www.facebook.com/natgeo)

-Geography-Awareness-Week post: Ice age extinction shaped Australian plantdiversity; Mapping the Nation; In Ecuador, Center of the Earth Is a Little Off Kilter;etc;-Associazione Geografica per l`Ambiente e il Teritorio (AGAT) it`s a group of italiangeographers wich post many information about environment, articles, photos, videoimages, etc;-Bistria Green Map Association it`san ecological organization with much concern inthe environment, wich post numerous specialized information related to ecosystems,life learning programs, and issues of conservation and protection of nature.

There are also a few shops with items for tourism (Nootka, Craimont,

Himalaya Bike Shop, etc.), wich posts important information about mountaineering,destinations and tourist routes, mountain climbing, etc.
https://www.facebook.com/natgeohttps://www.facebook.com/natgeo


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Important geographically information posted on their Facebook pages travelagencies, tourist resorts and tourism providers. This information highlight theattractive potential of certain tourist destinations, tourism products offered byoperators in tourism events (conferences, fairs, workshops, etc.), and the activities oftourism consumers.

In some universities, students can form groups on Facebook, on the years ofstudy, where various information of interest are posted (hourly, classrooms, projects,courses), photos from the practical applications, announcements, etc.

Fig.3-Extract from the Facebook page of Yelloowstone National Park(Source:https://www.facebook.com/YellowstoneNationalParkVisitor)

Private individuals post on facebook many personal geographicallyinformation, sometimes deliberately, sometimes accidentally, not knowing the

scientific value of the information posted.

This information is represented at more bypictures made personally or redistributed, referring to geographical places withgeographic conotations (landforms, settlements, forests, streams, lakes, springs, fauna,protected areas), traditional, cultural and modern events, negative aspect of theenvironment (waste, deforestation, pollution), places and sights, geographical positionby acting place option, etc.This photographic information may be useful to thosewho are interested in a particular area, a particular phenomenon or a specificgeographical problem.

Of the 500 private facebook pages consulted for this study, the followingresults were obtained:

-95% of information was in the form of photos;


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-20% of the posted photos contained geographical information in the form oflandscapes, relaxing places, towns, resorts, events, traditional events;-60% of visitors expressed their admiration for the content of those photos, and 40%expressed a desire to know personally the places they represent.

A poll conducted on a total of 300 students from the Faculty of Geography of

Tourism Bistria, who answered a set of four questions, highlights the followingissues:1)Do you have a fecebook acount?-Yes=270;-No=30;2)How does facebook help in your geographic preparing expert?-facebook group membership, information about timetable, courses and tutorials,announcements, knowledge of places around the world, knowledge of touristattractions =260;

-does not help at all=40;3)What geographical information can be found on facebook?-the natural sights and tourist resort areas, countries and cities, protected areas,landforms, travel impressions =270;4)What geographically information you posting on facebook?-places visited, sights, announcements, articles, photos about natural aspects,geographical position, etc.=270.

Conclusions

Facebook site, in addition to its social character, has cultural and educationalfunctions to be run over by the owners of an account or a page in the network. Forgeography these functions are proved, on the one hand by the character of informationposted (pictures of landscapes, flora and fauna, landmarks, geographic phenomena inthe coating, articles, impressions) and secondly by the existence of accounts andFacebook pages belonging to institutions, organizations and individuals specializing ingeography or interested in this field (teachers, researchers, students, pupils). By thestructure of the information posted, facebook pages are very helpful for disseminatingand assimilating geographically information and for the evolution of geography as a

science of nature and society.

Rezumat. Diseminarea informaiilor geografice prin intermediul reeleifacebook. Facebook-ul este al doilea site social mondial, dup Google, care adobndit n ultimii ani adevrate funcii cultural-educative, deoarece contribuie ladiseminarea unor informaii din diverse domenii de interes. Pentru geografie,facebook-ul este deosebit de util, deoarece, prin intermediul su, informaia despecialitate este rspndit spre un numr mare de solicitani (elevi, studeni,

profesori, cercettori, specialiti n diferite domenii, persoane obinuite). n funcie desursa care contribuie la circulaia informaiei geografice se disting urmtoarele tipuri


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de conturi n reea: persoane private, instituii de specialitate (faculti, licee, institutede cercetare), organizaii (mediu, ecologie), agenii de turism, prestatori de serviciituristice, specialiti (profesori, cercettori), grupuri de interese. Dup structurainformaiei geografice postate pe paginile de facebook se disting informaii sub formde fotografii, articole, filme, anunuri, afie, oferte turistice, etc. Studiul de fa i

propune s scoat n eviden importana facebook-ului nu numai ca reea desocializare, dar i ca modalitate de difuzare a informaiilor geografice att ntrespecialiti, ct i n rndul publicului larg.

REFERENCES/WEBOGRAPHY

http://blog.geoiq.com/2007/07/18/the-geography-of-facebook/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebookhttp://www.newmediatrendwatch.com/regional-overview/103-europe?start=5http://www.ziare.com/facebook/utilizatori/peste-5-8-milioane-de-romani-au-cont-de-

facebook-vezi-topul-oraselor-infografic-1223454http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2340893/Britons-second-prolific-Facebook-

Twitter-users-EUROPE-fifth-aged-65.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook-https://www.facebook.com/natgeo-https://sites.google.com/site/mrgriffith6/geography-of-facebook

-http://blog.geoiq.com/2007/07/18/the-geography-of-facebook/-https://www.facebook.com/WorldGeographyBlog-http://www.geographypods.com/using-facebook.html-https://www.facebook.com/pages/Geography-Awareness-Week/113008925394396-http://datamining.typepad.com/data_mining/2010/05/ethnicity-and-geography-of-facebook-users.html-http://socialerr.com/facebook/facebook-geography-fail/http://igcsegeography.ning.com/page/www-geographypods-comhttps://www.facebook.com/groups/agatweb/

http://www.opengreenmap.org/greenmap/harta-verde-bistritahttps://www.facebook.com/YellowstoneNationalParkVisitorhttps://www.facebook.com/GrandTetonNPShttps://www.facebook.com/nationalparkservicehttps://www.facebook.com/NSWNationalParkshttps://www.facebook.com/GrandCanyonNationalParkhttps://www.facebook.com/DenaliNPShttps://www.facebook.com/AlaskaNPShttps://www.facebook.com/YellowstoneNationalParkVisitorhttps://www.facebook.com/pages/Parcul-National-Muntii-

Macinului/546370245375770
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebookhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/natgeohttps://sites.google.com/site/mrgriffith6/geography-of-facebookhttp://blog.geoiq.com/2007/07/18/the-geography-of-facebook/https://www.facebook.com/WorldGeographyBloghttp://www.geographypods.com/using-facebook.htmlhttps://www.facebook.com/pages/Geography-Awareness-Week/113008925394396http://datamining.typepad.com/data_mining/2010/05/ethnicity-and-geography-of-facebook-users.htmlhttp://datamining.typepad.com/data_mining/2010/05/ethnicity-and-geography-of-facebook-users.htmlhttp://socialerr.com/facebook/facebook-geography-fail/https://www.facebook.com/NSWNationalParkshttps://www.facebook.com/GrandCanyonNationalParkhttps://www.facebook.com/DenaliNPShttps://www.facebook.com/YellowstoneNationalParkVisitorhttps://www.facebook.com/pages/Parcul-National-Muntii-Macinului/546370245375770https://www.facebook.com/pages/Parcul-National-Muntii-Macinului/546370245375770https://www.facebook.com/pages/Parcul-National-Muntii-Macinului/546370245375770https://www.facebook.com/pages/Parcul-National-Muntii-Macinului/546370245375770https://www.facebook.com/YellowstoneNationalParkVisitorhttps://www.facebook.com/DenaliNPShttps://www.facebook.com/GrandCanyonNationalParkhttps://www.facebook.com/NSWNationalParkshttp://socialerr.com/facebook/facebook-geography-fail/http://datamining.typepad.com/data_mining/2010/05/ethnicity-and-geography-of-facebook-users.htmlhttp://datamining.typepad.com/data_mining/2010/05/ethnicity-and-geography-of-facebook-users.htmlhttps://www.facebook.com/pages/Geography-Awareness-Week/113008925394396http://www.geographypods.com/using-facebook.htmlhttps://www.facebook.com/WorldGeographyBloghttp://blog.geoiq.com/2007/07/18/the-geography-of-facebook/https://sites.google.com/site/mrgriffith6/geography-of-facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/natgeohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebookhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook


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https://www.facebook.com/pages/Parcul-Naional-Retezat-National-Park/168705939972143https://www.facebook.com/nootkasport

https://www.facebook.com/himalaya.bikeshop.7

https://www.facebook.com/craimont
https://www.facebook.com/nootkasporthttps://www.facebook.com/himalaya.bikeshop.7https://www.facebook.com/himalaya.bikeshop.7https://www.facebook.com/nootkasport

disemnination of geographic infiormations by facebook

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