Online Stalking: a Hobby
According to her Facebook, Professor Abdoney seems to have been born into a middle class family in Florida. After attending public high school she was able to University of Florida for undergrad and University of South Florida for grad studies, indicating that she is very well educated. Politically, she is very left leaning according to her Twitter posts which are primarily about feminism, lgbtq rights, and poking fun at the Trump administration. Also, her twitter and Facebook posts about digital culture and library stuff show that she is very passionate about her job. Her likes include cats, cross stitch, and knitting as evidenced by the extensive photos of those things on Facebook and Flickr. Finally, she is very family oriented since most of her Facebook posts include her husband or her son.
According to her Facebook, Professor Teaff appears to have been born into a middle class family from New York. She also attended public high school and then went on to Fulton-Montgomery Community College, SUNY Potsdam, VCU, and University of South Carolina for post grad which also indicates a high level of education. There aren’t many political posts on her Facebook or Twitter, but the #resist in her Twitter bio indicates that she does not support the current political administration. She does have a decent amount of library-related posts on Facebook, indicating her love for her job. For her likes, she also posted a few cat pictures and articles about Hamilton. Finally, she seems to have a very close group of friends that she keeps in touch with.
Both professors come from middle class backgrounds, went to public school, and have a high level of education. Both also lean left politically and support the feminist and lbgtq movements. Both also are very passionate about their jobs as librarians, and finally, both own cats.
While Professor Abdoney is very active on her Facebook and Twitter, Professor Teaff only has one post on Twitter and posts very sporadically on Facebook. Professor Abdoney also shares more of her life through posts about her family and personal beliefs while Professor Teaff posts things that are less personal.
Like many people on either side of the political spectrum both Professor Abdoney and Teaff are very susceptible to getting stuck in a political filter bubble. Professor Abdoney’s extensive tweets and retweets against the Trump administration mean that her feed will be full of homogenous super liberal posts. Professor Teaff follows a lot of left-leaning people on Facebook, meaning that most of the content that she views will also be liberal. Because of their frequent exposure to liberal content, their discourse will also be mostly liberal, and they also might interact with mostly liberal people. This type of homogenous interaction does not foster intellectual growth.
