User talk:Awuawu
Facebook used to be a huge part of my life. My usage died down a bit recently, but I'm still pretty attached to it. I created my profile during my freshmen year in high school, and back then, I took full advantage of all the features it had to offer: status updates, wall posts, events, apps, photos, etc. Facebook used to be an online social hub for me to connect with friends when we weren’t together. My friends on Facebook were all friends in real life and they already knew me pretty well, so I could post freely and express myself without fear of judgment. But as the years went by and the number of friends I added accumulated, I started to realize what I originally used as a private social network has become pretty darn public. When old high school teachers, friends’ parents, supervisors, and random acquaintances started adding me on Facebook, I started to realize, "everything I've ever posted is visible to all of these people." With this fear of judgment, I began to think twice before posting anything, and I started using certain features less and less.
Currently, about 50% of my Facebook usage is dedicated to checking notifications which include events, posts on my wall, inboxes, photo's I'm tagged in, and groups. The other 50% time, I will shamelessly admit, is spent stalking profiles. I’m not talking about creepy cyberstalking; I’m talking about checking out a new “friend’s” profile to see what kind of person they are, or going through an old friend’s profile to see what’s been going on in their lives. Let’s be honest, Facebook stalking is surprisingly entertaining and time killing. While I definitely enjoy the ability to stalk my 985 friends’ profiles, on the other hand, 985 people also have the ability to stalk my profile...
Contents
Public Online Identity
Likes
Other than my profile picture, city, and friends, a stranger looking at my Facebook profile would only be able to see my 102 likes. Personally, I rarely pay attention to pages that are "liked" whether it's my own profile or my friends' profiles. Actually, the only reason my profile seems to like so many pages is because last year, I only had 4 "Likes" and I thought it was a little awkward so I went and liked dozens of pages in just a few minutes. I did this primarily to keep up with everyone else's profiles, but I've never really understood the point of liking pages. All it does is clutter up my newsfeed with advertisements and spam. Although I "liked" these pages in a hasty manner, I did go out of my way to choose pages that I actually enjoy. From these "likes" a stranger might think I'm really into music of all different genres, a fan of detroit sports teams, and not really into books. These are all mostly true, but because I never update my "Likes," changing music tastes and new books I've read will never be represented accurately, and the interests one can judge me upon will always be the ones I had from a year ago.
Photos
What strangers can't see, are the hundreds of photos I'm tagged in. In my opinion, these photos depict my real identity better than anything else on my profile. It's not a perfect depiction, but it's as close as it'll get. From these photos, one can tell my physical characteristics, where I've been, what kind of friends I have, what kind of clothes I wear, and a slew of other personal information. Nothing else on Facebook can give away that much information. As they say, "a picture is worth a thousand words." I'm not so big on photography though, so most of the photos are taken by others who have tagged me in them. Since my photos are taken by others, I feel like they are an authentic representation of how I present myself when I'm out and about. However, I do lose the ability pick and choose what goes on my Facebook to construct my identity based on how I'd want to present myself.
Aside from what these photos have to say about my identity, they also hold a great deal of importance to me personally. From the day I created my Facebook, most of my memories of social events lie within these photos. My parents used to keep albums full of pictures of me when I was younger, but during my high school and college years, they weren't always present at all of my fun times to take pictures. Therefore, my friends who like to take pictures have done me a great favor by posting these memories onto Facebook. While I enjoy sharing these memories with some of my friends online, it can sometimes get awkward with 985 people having access to your photos. This creates a dilemma for me between preserving memories by keeping certain photos tagged and producing a better public image by untagging myself. In the end, I usually just leave them tagged because I know new photos will take attention away from the old, and life will go on.
Wall Posts
Posts on my wall also appear hidden to the general public, but they are harder to hide from the 985 "friends." It's not as big of an issue though, because for me, wall posts normally don't contain much personal information. I don't post on people's walls that often, and when I do it's usually just for inside jokes, sharing links/videos, and saying happy birthday. Other than a nice alternative method of communication, wall posts also serve as a great source of memories. I never bother to delete wall posts because they're usually pretty entertaining to look back at. Sure, people can judge me for the cat video that my friend posted on my wall, but they'd be lying if they said they didn't get a kick out of it too. Posts on my wall are generally harmless and do not create a negative representation of my true identity. However, like photos, I rarely post original content on my own wall. This leads to a profile that has more emphasis on secondary elements rather than primary elements, which makes it difficult for me to create my ideal online identity.
Private Online Identity
Chat/Inbox
I like using these tools a lot because the conversations are more private, and I don't have to worry about my public image. The combining of inbox and chat bothered me though.There once was a time when chat and inbox were separate functions on Facebook, but a few years ago, Facebook decided to combine the two so that all chats were also saved as inbox messages. Before the merge, chat was just like instant messaging--it was quick, convenient, and temporary. However, when it became a part of the inbox, every message sent between you and the person you're chatting with is automatically archived in the inbox. While this temporality issue has it's benefits (can look up addresses or phone numbers that were sent through chat) it also bears some problems. For example, sometimes I tend to talk impulsively through chat and I'll end up saying something I regret saying. With the old chat, my words would've disappeared after a day, but with the inbox archiving, I just left a transcript of my irrational behavior for them to keep.
Groups
Groups are also a little more private than the rest of Facebook. I'm in many groups dedicated to clubs, teams, fraternity brothers, friends, etc. that are great ways to privately communicate with group members about certain topics. It's a good tool for me because I can show different sides of my true identity to different social groups without seeming overly dedicated to one group over another on my Facebook wall.
Conclusion
This growing number of people who have access to my Facebook causes me to behave more self-consciously with my online identity. When I set my profile to private, who am I really hiding it from? Everyone I barely know is already a Facebook friend so it's basically like my profile is public. I could just unfriend a lot of people, but that wouldn't completely solve the problem. In the past few years, Facebook has become a foundation for our social media needs. Most people will add you on Facebook before asking for your number, and most people will expect you to accept their request to show your authenticity. Furthermore, I have already built a history with Facebook. Many memories from the past five years of my life have been recorded on Facebook through pictures and wall posts for all to see. It paints a clearer picture of my identity than any other website out there. Even though it's not a 100% perfect picture of how I want to be portrayed, people can still easily use it as basis for their first impressions. But with all these problems my Facebook causes, I still choose to utilize and check it every day. It has become so natural for me to always have that tab up in the corner regardless of how much work I have to get done. Not only does it grant me 985 profiles to stalk, but it also helps me keep track of all the social memories I've had throughout the last 5 years (not to mention in chronological order). While the lack of privacy can cause issues from time to time, overall, I still very appreciate the convenience Facebook offers me to connect with new people I meet through growing friendships and to reconnect with old friends through our old posts. Overall, it provides me with a patch of the Internet I can call home[page].
