I found the most interesting part of Zhao et al.’s research to be the types of identity claims users make on facebook in comparison to chat rooms.
I can remember when chat rooms were all the rage with the famous first question, “a/s/l?” Sometimes chats would progress to the most famous second question, “gotta a pic?” These two questions immediately opened the door to lies and misleading information. Since chatting only allowed people to see the words that others typed to them, it was easy for people to send others a picture that was not truly of them, but instead a picture of some supermodel they found online.
When I first read Zhao et al.’s claim that facebook would allow users to portray the “hoped-for possible selves,” I thought that there was no way for facebook to possibly allow this more than chat rooms did. facebook allows viewers to “see” more of a person and learn more about them then the basic “a/s/l,” before the viewer even says one word to the person. To chat with someone, it is not required that you see their picture and if you do see a picture you can never be sure if it is truly a picture of the person you are speaking to. Yet, on facebook you can view a person’s picture just by pulling up a person’s profile (depending on their privacy settings) and you could know the person’s a/s/l, religious beliefs, political views, relationship status and more about a person with just one click. I assumed that people would not put a picture of someone else up or inaccurate information since their “friends” on facebook would know that the information was incorrect and call them out on it. Besides, why would anyone spend all that time creating a “fake” profile about themselves?
However, as I read Zhao et al.’s claim further, I realized that their argument included so much more. They argued that the users of facebook portray their “hoped-for possible selves” as it pertained to their supposed interests, hobbies, and number of friends. This information is intriguing to me. If facebook is to be a successful social networking site for people to make friends and contacts, why would anyone want to put down false information about themselves that will ultimately lead to them meeting people who genuinely have those same interests that are not true for the person in the first place. It’s one thing if people really are “well-rounded,” but it really is okay for people to be “nerds,” too. This research that people try to promote well-roundedness in their “Interests” and “About Me” sections on facebook, lead me to inspecting my own facebook informational enteries. Am I trying to make myself come across as more intelligent or more thoughtful with my inclusion of the poem “Invictus?” Are we subconsciously trying to promote ourselves in a different light on these profiles? Is anyone ever really truthful on their profile? Why not?
I also found Zhao et al.’s point about profile pictures to be interesting. I cannot remember the last time that my profile picture only included me in the frame. On other online networks, like my twitter account and my blog, my profile picture contains just me, but instead on facebook my profile pictures have included pictures of me with groups of friends or me with my boyfriend. Shots of me with a group of my girl friends could confuse a viewer that is visiting my page as to which girl I am. Why do I choose the pictures that I do, of me with other people, to be my profile picture, the one picture that anyone surfing the Web can see? Do I also do this subconsciously to make it appear as though I have lots of friends? Or do I do this to hide my identity, by burying my face in the faces of four of my girl friends?
Reading this article also made me think of a song by Brad Paisley. I included the video below. I think the song’s lyrics fit the topic of false identity claims.
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