Facebook page

Prior to this class I already had a facebook page. The main reason I created the page was so that I would be able to keep in touch with friends from college, high school, and from the various places I have traveled. In today’s society, it is a lot easier to send and email than to make a phone call. My facebook page allows me to keep in contact with those I meet, without having to use a phone or to keep track of changing phone numbers.

The Info tab on my facebook account is rather bare, and actually incorrect. It is broken down into several subsections; Basic information, Personal information, Contact information, Education and work, and Groups. Although I have been a member of this website for over three years, the information on my website has not changed since. None of my contact information is correct, and all the basic information reveals about myself is that I was born on August 8th, am female, and that I am an alumni of University of Micigan and UC Davis. For me, I do not want a lot of my personal information on a website, especially as more and more employers are starting to check personal websites prior to hiring people.

The only use for the site that I have is to keep in touch with friends I have across the country, and make plans with people whom I do not see frequently. An example of this is that I recently went home to Pennsylvania for my brothers wedding. Before I left, I used facebook to send messages to some of the people I went to high school with to make plans to get together with them while I was in town.

I have my account set up so that people actually need to know me in order to add me as a friend. I do not want a lot of random people contacting me through the internet because honestly, if I do not know a person, I do not want to meet them online. I also do not use the site as a way of letting people know what I am doing every week. It seems like some people use facebook to provide their friends and others with constant updates on their life, which is fine, but I just choose not to do this. I just logged on to this site for the first time in a month or so, and the first things I see and comments like, “Corinne; Russ’ work phone work me up this morning. Not much sleep” and “Lauren: is pregnant”. To me, this just feels like a mass complaining, bragging, whining, and gossiping site.

In Wood and Smith, they say, “Most of us are aware that costuming is an important aspect of the parts we play and the self we choose to resent at one time or another” (58). This applies with facebook in that people choose to post pictures that make themselves or others look good – you rarely see someone’s profile picture where they are having a bad day or at a time when they are sad. Facebook allows people to pick and choose what they decide to reveal to other people and thus, people usually have a motivation to post the things they do. They are either looking for sympathy, congratulations, or simply attention.