The Recession: My Facebook, My Therapist

In a time of growing unemployment, tumbling stocks, and rising foreclosures, people are finding comfort on social networking sites

By Douglas MacMillan

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When Ian Schlueter found out he'd be among the casualties of a layoff announced Dec. 11 by global shipper DHL, he was too shaken up to call friends and family. "I didn't want to talk about it," says Schlueter, an IT manager. "It just kind of sucks."

Instead he reached out to the Web for moral support. First he snapped an iPhone picture of his severance letter and posted it to photo-sharing site SnapMyLife. He also updated his Facebook status line and eventually joined a group on LinkedIn for former DHL employees.

Rising foreclosures, tumbling stocks, surging job losses, and other symptoms of the recession are adding to people's stress and anxiety levels. To cope, Internet users are increasingly finding an outlet through online social media. "These new channels are providing a sense of community in an environment where there is a sudden, almost compelled, need…not to feel alone," says Sherry Turkle, a professor of social studies of science and technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Some are logging on to vent frustrations; many are commiserating with others. Still others are collaborating to find solutions, like landing a new job or helping friends in need.

Down in the Valley

In communities across the Internet, the ravages of recession abound. On Dec. 10, when Yahoo! (YHOO) began laying off 10% or about 1,500, of its employees, tech industry blogs like Valleywag and Silicon Alley Insider published minute-by-minute updates on where layoffs were happening in the company, while hundreds of readers chipped in with front-line news, such as how managers were carrying out cuts and what was included in severance packages. The same day, laid-off Yahoo employees announced their predicament on microblogging site Twitter. Many found solace. "Actually kinda comforted by the Twitter outpouring," wrote Ben Ward, who lost his job as a Web developer at Yahoo's Brickhouse startup incubator. "Thanks everyone."

Social networks aimed at helping people work together are proving particularly useful amid a recession that's leaving some feeling helpless. "What has struck me is that so [much] of what is being said is in the nature of support rather than information, perhaps because people don't know what information will be useful," says Turkle, who founded the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self. "More dire news? Job losses? This is out there, but there is a parallel track on which people are just trying to help each other out." More than 1,100 Facebook members have joined a group called "I will NOT be participating in any Recession" where they trade advice on how to shore up finances and stay employed. "We can't horde our money so we have to put it back into the economy…but smartly," wrote member Doug Martin in November. "Working off a budget and ensuring that we don't overextend ourselves is key." Searches for other Facebook groups with "recession" and "downturn" in their names yield dozens of results, from the activism-oriented "I oppose the bailout" to the more despairing "The Second Great Depression (2008-?)."