Day 59: CRITICAL EXAMINATION

When I think about how people portray themselves on various social networking sites, like Facebook, or for that matter, how I portray myself on Facebook, the themes of personal space and alternate identity are most defiantly prevalent. The whole idea of online social networking revolves are these very themes in both direct and indirect ways. Whereas the goal for some might be to portray themselves "as accurately as possible", directly corresponding to their identities, everyone actively seeks to presents information that they see "fit", whether the info is perfectly true to their identity or not, in a sense, creating an alternate identity in the process. People delete, or "untag", embarrassing photos, and "friend-request" thousands of people, falsely demonstrating who they are through "hyper-selectivity". One can easily look at a profile on Facebook and read what someone's portrayed identity is, however, this outwardly, publicly expressed identity isn't always the person's "true" identity (not only in the corny sense, but in the sense that they could easily be lying on many levels). As far as personal space goes, everyone would like to think that their is some very personal aspect of online social networking, but truth be told, anything that can be accessed by millions is the absolute opposite...total public space. Whether people realize that online social networking forces the "personal" aspects of identity together with the "public" sphere, or not, the very idea of online social networking seems to combine clashing concepts...but who knows, maybe thats why its so popular... i mean, I have a Facebook and am on it far too much.