Talk:Tanya Madhani

Wow, that was a lot of content! I thoroughly enjoyed hearing your voice throughout – it was very direct and genuine. I liked how you chose to explain yourself in your friends’ words rather than your own, seeing if their interpretation of you matched up with your online representation, and then if those two aspects correlated with how you perceive yourself.

I feel that the conclusion that you came to is one that resonates with many of us. Our online representations may not be wrong – what Facebook projects is accurate – but it is not the full picture. I like how you go further into discussing that what our level of activity can say about us and how it can be affected by our various audiences in online communities. While you note that you wouldn’t start talking about second-wave feminist ideals to a random classmate, reflecting your decision to hold back from posting to online “friends”, are there any spaces online (or even on Facebook) that you do feel comfortable voicing those opinions? Do you choose to only say these in one-on-one conversations (e.g. Messenger), or do you use Facebook Groups to create a “safer”, more intimate space?

My only other suggestion would be to improve style (in terms of formatting). With your deep assessment and insight, your page tends to be text-heavy and dense-feeling. While you did a great job with seriousness of post, there are several long paragraphs in a row, which ends up feeling like one giant text blob because there are no photos, etc. to break up the monotony. When there are photos, some are not placed in the most strategic of places, making it hard to follow at times (visually).

Other than that, great job! Your analysis was very thoughtful, and I could tell that you put a lot of thought into understanding who your online self is, and whether that self-representation is genuine.

-Angel

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This is such a thoughtful piece! I liked the concept that we always “seek ourselves in a variety of places, but are never satisfied with just a singular definition of our character,” and how you connect that with social media as an environment that we control. I agree that Facebook is simply another way to represent bits and pieces of our real personality, and that how we present ourselves to our Facebook “friends” online and to our acquaintances in real life is very similar.

I would’ve liked to read more about your photos and what they say about you - particularly those you’re tagged in by your friends. You mostly focus on your posted content, events, and cover photos, which goes well with your theme, but I wish you’d touched more on Facebook photos as I think they’re a significant part of “standard,” authentic Facebook profiles. If it’s not a large part of your Facebook profile or online identity, it’d be interesting to explore why.

Overall, your writing is incredibly introspective, clear, and focused, and it’s clear you put a lot of time and effort into this. I really enjoyed reading it!

- Alissa Chan