In recent years, Facebook has become extremely popular amongst college students. Almost everyone I know has an account and checks or updates it daily. Facebook allows its members to list information such as their interests, favorite music, favorite TV shows, favorite movies, etc. Each account also has a space for contact information, where people can show their phone numbers, addresses (residence), and screename. Since these characteristics of Facebook can easily be altered by the users, they are called conventional signals. Facebook also contains many assessment signals, which are characteristics that cannot be easily changed once a profile is made. For example, a Facebook profile revolves around what college or university the user attends, so it is near impossible to change the college name and year (unless the member transfers). It would also be hard to change his or her email address, unless the member uses one that differs from the one issued by the college. Altering photographs and wall posts is not an option, unless certain sections are deleted or Photoshop is used to change size or color (perhaps to black and white).
I asked my friend to evaluate her Facebook profile for me, and she did, claiming everything she had to be completely true. I was not surprised by her answers, because she is not the type of girl to go out of her way to try and impress someone by being different then she really is in person. She doesn’t take Facebook too seriously and just listed her interests, music, TV shows and movies so that her friends could see the specifics.
Under the Hyperpersonal Model, my friend has used selective self-presentation by listing things are true about her, but she also selectively chose which bands and movies she wrote down for everyone to see. Since she only chose a few things to list, someone could perceive her as something she is not (as explained by the ‘Over-attribution process’).
Since she does not have a Facebook in order to try and make friends or other possible social scenarios, she does not find it necessary to try and deceive anyone who looks at her page.
No comments:
Post a Comment