Me, Myself, and Facebook

Me, Myself, and Facebook.

Identity is all about who you are, so how does that translate into social networking sites such as Facebook? McNeill argues that one loses a part of their identity by conforming to the rigid parameters of a social networking profile. However, every person uses these differently, through what they enter, what they share and what they lie about. A social networking profile is only the tip of the iceberg, with status updates, photo, and video sharing, private messaging and many more options. These options can create an identity unique to the individual who uses the same profile parameters as everyone else. Furthermore, who a person shares with, is a reflection on their identity, from “randoms” adders (people who add anyone and everyone regardless of whether they know them or not), “People who I know” adders (they know everyone on their friends lists); to “friends and family only” adders (they are close to people who they are friends with). “Randoms” adders generally don’t care who they share information with, people who only add people they know are generally more guarded about their identity, while those who only add people they are close to, are generally either private, or they use social networking sites as a way of keeping in contact with certain people.

The very notion of using a social networking site such as Facebook is a part of your both of your identities, the virtual one, and the “real life” one. Identity is about who you are, and using social networking sites, gives you an identity that people who have never met you in the “real” world, know you by.

Note: the term “real” is subjective in that the Easter bunny is “real” to children who believe in him, but that does not make him exist. The virtual world is a “real” world, even if it doesn’t technically exist in the physical sense, while the “real” world exists physically, it is so full of propaganda that it just as fictional at times as the virtual world.

McNeill, L. (2012). There is no “I” in network: Social networking sites and posthuman auto-biography. In Biography, 35(1), 101-108.