#4 - the facebook dimension

Facebook is a recent development on the Internet that allows people to become friends, creating a network of internet users with a detailed profile of each user. A profile has a variety of attributes each user can choose to fill out in order to expand their profile. These entry fields provide signals about the user; its level of validity however is questionable. Certain fields are more viable; these assessment signals have a higher cost to falsify. The assessment signals listed below are also more costly since it can be verified by the people in the actual network or know the actual person. The following are assessment signals provided on the Facebook profile:

Assessment signals:

• name
• network
• birthday
• hometown
• contact info:
  email
  mobile
  current address
  residence
  school mailbox
  website
• Education
• Work Info

Other less credible fields are conventional signals. These signals have a lower cost and are easier to fake. Conventional signals on Facebook include:

Conventional Signals:

• profile pictures
• pictures
• groups
• interests
• "looking for" (in other users of Facebook)
• political views
• religious views
• friends list
• screenname for instant messaging program
• personal info:
  activities
  interests
  fav music
  fav tv shows
  fav movies
  fave books
  fav quotes
  about me
• applications
• status

Each of these fields are optional and can be removed from the user's profile except for List of friends, network(s), name, and email address. These fields are mostly assessment signals.

Based on these fields, I questioned my friend on the validity of his facebook profile. Not every field was shown. The following are the ratings he assigned along with my own ratings of the accuracy of his posted information.

Scale: 1(inaccurate) - 5(accurate)

Format: field name: his rating, my rating

networks: 5, 5
bday: 5, 5
hometown 5, 5
religious views: 5, 3
emails: 5, 5
profile pic: 5, 5
tagged pictures: 5, 5
interests: 5, 5
fave music: 5, 5
fave book: 2, 2
about me: 5, 5

groups: 5, 5
friends: 3, 3
name: 5, 3
fb apps:5, 4
education: 5, 4

In most instances, my friend gave himself a very accurate rating. The reason why he didn't give himself a 5 was for the sake of a joke, a harmless form of deception. When I decided to rate the accuracy of his profile, I felt some of the information was inaccurate because he presented certain aspects that portrayed him a different light than he really is.

The difference in ratings supports the Feature Based Approach. Facebook is asynchronous, keeps a record through mini-feed and news-feed, and most people in the Facebook network are not highly distributed. Due to these qualities, Feature Based Approach states that people are less likely to lie, which is the case for my friend's Facebook profile. Any lies that did occur were harmless lies intended as jokes and were obviously more of a joke than a lie, especially to his closer friends. This result also supports the Social Distance Theory since people who would view his profile are mostly friends nearby.

This does not follow the Media Richness Theory which states that people tend to lie in richer forms of media. Facebook is highly dense and rich but not many people lie about themselves.