Facebook Manners; More Than A Centruy Old

The digitizers at ProQuest have discovered not all content is serious academic research. Some is just plain fun:

Bryan Benilous, a historical newspaper specialist at the digital-archive company Proquest, said he and his colleagues came across a Boston Daily Globe article from August 24, 1902, titled, “Face Book The New Fad,” describing a party game where revelers sketch out cartoony caricatures for fun.

“I think it is interesting to note the similarities with this first iteration of Face Book as a shared social experience,” said Mr. Benilous. “It’s almost like having friends write on your wall in a much less tech-savvy way.”

There are more than a few similarities between current social-networking practices and early-20th century social practices, said Ellen Gruber Garvey, a professor at New Jersey City University and the author of an upcoming exploration of new media in American history called “Book, Paper, Scissors: Scrapbooks Remake Print Culture.” [...]

In addition to discovering what appears to be an emoticon in a transcript of a speech by Abraham Lincoln, they’ve uncovered a 1942 Washington Post article titled “Think Before You Twitter” about gossiping and a 1903 article referring to the first “pocket telephone.”

Facebook Manners video (above) via Mashable.