I recently read somewhere that Facebook was offically launched in the year 2004. If this fact is true, it is stunning to see how quickly it has become one of the most popular forms of online communication in such a short period of time. Over the weekend, I interviewed a friend from home about her Facebook profile. Since I have known her for many years, she knew she had to be honest in rating the validity of each of her profile statements.
The first question I asked was about her relationship status. I know she has a boyfriend and has for quite some time, but she has chosen to keep this particular section of her profile blank. I asked her why she hasn't updated her "relationship status" and she came up with various answers such as: "I just haven't had the chance to", "it's nobody's business", and "he doesn't have himself listed as 'In a relationship', so why should I?". I found this quite interesting. Her boyfriend goes to school back home, which is about 6 hours away from her school. I wonder if both of them don't want to flaunt the fact that they are 'taken'? Interesting...
Next I moved on to her 'Personal Info'. Under 'Activities', my friend listed that she dances and plays soccer. She admitted that she has not played soccer for 3 years, and has not danced for 2 years. Next, I moved on to 'Interests'. Her interests included: "music, going to the beach, hanging out with friends, reading". She claimed that all of these were true, and gave them a 5 (even though I know she lives in Ottawa and probably only has the opportunity to go to a very poor quality beach about 5 times a year). She gave herself 4's on 'Favourite Music', 'Favourite TV shows' and 'Favourite Movies'. She admitted her 'Favourite Movies' were not her true favourites and mainly chose the most popular, award-winning movies. She did not list any "Favourite Books", which I found odd because one of her 'Interests' included "reading".
I then decided to scan through some of her "Groups" and other applications she might have on her profile. She had an NHL hockey application, and admitted to me that she didn't follow the NHL much at all but that since she was Canadian, she felt she should add it. She was also a member of a lot of Harry Potter groups, groups associated with her hometown and groups associated with her old high school. I found that her true interests and activities were shown particularly well through the groups she was involved in. I think the reason behind this is the fact that she truly wanted to learn and be associated with topics she was actually interested in. Also, most people don't "profile-stalk" by looking at one's Groups.
In analyzing every detail of my friend's profile. I realized how easy it is to manipulate how you are perceived online. In this specific profile, because of the big "NHL application", and the activities listed as "dance and soccer", I would assume she is very athletic. In reality, she is not very athletic and doesn't particularly follow or play sports very often. She also altered a few of the things she stated under her "personal info" in order to appear a certain way. My friend's deception stategies are very well carried out in her profile because they are extremely hard to detect. She discretely manipulated her profile, while maintain the appearance that she was being honest. The alteration of even the smallest piece of information, such as an addition of specific application, can change one's interpretation of a profile. As Brad Paisley puts it in his new song... "I'm so much cooler online!"
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Rebecca-
I found your blog quite interesting. I had a similar experience analyzing my friend’s Facebook profile for this assignment. I too was able to tell where my friend was lying amidst the profile. For her relationship status, she listed that she had a boyfriend, when I know that they are in fact on a break. It’s funny how people list or omit what’s true about their actual relationship status. I myself have omitted that I’ve been in a relationship before, or put that I’m “married” to a good friend. The friend that I interviewed also had outdated interests and activities that don’t reflect what she actually does now. This seems to be a theme among many profiles. It would be interesting to analyze how selective self-presentation plays a role in how people set their profiles.
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