Aaron D. Neufeld- BLOG #12- ‘The Facebook Self’
Who is the Facebook self? Facebook is supposed to be a social networking site, putting yourself out there online on your own personal page filled with your interests, photos, etc. But does Facebook accurately represent who we are?
I look at my friend list on Facebook of over 800 and think about how many of those friends are actually my friends. How many of those 800 people do I talk to on a regularly basis or even at all? Some of these people I have never met and never said a word to. Some may even be celebrities. Are my Facebook friends representative of my real friends? And what about my photos? We’ve been told time and time again that we have to be careful what information we put online. We are told to be cautious with what photos to include on our online profiles such as Facebook, as employers do indeed review your Facebook page before deciding to hire you. So that means all those photos from that party where there may have been alcohol consumed by people under the age of 21 must be removed, even if I in fact didn’t drink. What about those photos at religious events? Perhaps I should remove those as well in case my employer isn’t fond of my religion. And be careful what you write in your status or on your “friends’” walls!
What I’m trying to get at here is that with our photos and comments to heavily edited, as well as our friend list made up of people who may be complete strangers, how well Facebook actually represents us may be a lot weaker than we thought. Let’s not forget how easy it is to also Photoshop our photos today and how we control what comments stay and go, as well as what information about us is put up. It wouldn’t be too hard to completely fabricate everything about yourself on Facebook. Be wary of the Facebook self.
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