Keeping Facebook honest and truthful provides useful information for the interested. Having a page among the most popular network in college will help create a persona that interests many old and newly acquired friends. Trying to get a good vibe of someone you recently met will often lead you to adding them and checking out their facebook page. Having the ability to scope out their interests will develop a personal connection or provide useful information about who they are or who they want to be.
O’Sullivan developed many ideas throughout his impression management model that can be translated through facebook. After discussing the relative truth behind my friend’s profile, I came to the conclusion that for the majority of the profile, honesty was maintained. The majority of the profile had information that was relevant and up to date with a few extra points added as sarcastic and humorous. They were able to get across the main points that they wanted to while altering a few to make them seem warmer and more childish than reality shows. Using the 5 point scale that Catalina showed us in her lecture, the profile scored quite well. The points are as follows:
Name: 5Activities: 5Networks: 5Sex: 5Interested In: 5Birthday: 5Hometown: 5Contact Info: 5Groups: 4
Music: 5
Favorite Quotes: 2
Interests: 2
During the majority of the profile, scores of 4 and 5 were given. The “2’s” occurred because of the extra sarcasm and youthful demeanor that was trying to be portrayed in these sections. Asking questions about these lower scores, I came to the conclusion that she just wanted to create a sense of ambiguity and see what kind of reaction could come out of her friends. Keeping the profile real is a must in such a public and well known network because of the FtF contact that happens around the campus. People begin to associate how they know people with the status of their friendship on facebook.
Even though the facebook profile that I examined didn’t go into detail about interests, activities and other personal information, knowing the person FtF is no comparison to knowing them through facebook. After studying the profile, I know more about the person in real life because of the lack of information that is displayed on the facebook page. Having the ability to detect where lies are and what is truth has made it possible for people to get to know her through facebook but the majority of her true qualities are revealed with FtF communication.
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3 comments:
I think that your point about trying to convey humor and a warm personality is a really important part of Facebook. Though we may not rate every word of our profiles as a perfectly accurate representation of who we are, this does not mean that we are not conveying ourselves correctly. Merely writing something as an interest because one thinks it is funny is giving away a part of his or her personality indirectly. This may be even more effective in demonstrating one’s persona. I find that my friends who illustrate their subtle wit within the context of their interests tell the most about their personalities. This aspect of a Facebook profile cannot be accounted for in the ratings of this experiment because it is much more subtle and even possibly unintentional. Whether the actual interest or activity is truthful or not may not be as important as what we learn about the person because he or she did choose to include this particular item in their profile.
I agree with Randi that a person's fake interests reveals a lot about themselves. Sometimes an interest on Facebook can be so ridiculous and over-the-top that no one thinks the person is partaking in intentional deception. Sometimes, however, I have known people to possess a dry wit and humor on their Facebook profiles, but not portray that characteristic in FtF interactions. Now THAT may be lying.
I wasn't sure what aspects of O'Sullivan's theory you thought corresponded through Facebook. It sounds like, as you said, your friend chose Facebook to be ambiguous about her interests. However, I can't help thinking that some aspects of choosing a Facebook profile are about efficiency. For instance, I think I am able to remember my friend's majors and hometowns better because of Facebook. And since I know my friends and I check Facebook once or more a day, it is an easy method of contacting one another.
I think that you raise an interesting point in your analysis of a friend's facebook account. Though this might be quite a generalization, I believe that people who have been members of facebook since shortly before it started seem to take it much less seriously than those who haave joined more recently, since the big "boom" of these asynchronous online environments. Personally, and similarly for the majority of my friends (who are for the most part seniors), my profile closely resembles the one you described: my general information is accurate but when it comes to personal information I have several sarcastic comments. I don't consider facebook a medium through which people will actually get to know me, but rather a way to keep up with old friends, and perhaps show to new people that I don't take my online personality seriously. Although facebook is a large part of my life, and I can't deny the fact that I use it everyday, the fact that I joined shortly after it started is reflected in my attitude towards representing myself online. I don't lie, but don't feel the need to tell the whole truth about myself.
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