Social Networks

It has always been very clear to me which of my Facebook friends are very concerned about the image of themselves that they convey and which of my Facebook friends could care less how they are perceived by their Facebook pages. There is a group of people who take special care to ensure that their pages are neat, portray plentiful and accurate information, and contain only photographs in which they look polished and at their best. This group of people places great value on how they portray themselves on Facebook and thus how others perceive them, so they do what they can with the tools available to them on Facebook to preserve their image. Those who do not seem to care so much about the content and format of their pages do not seem to me to be trying to summarize themselves in a mere page on the Internet. The reasons for this can vary greatly. One may have no desire to recreate themselves via a personal webpage; another individual may not see a webpage as capable of summarizing himself or herself.

It is one thing to state that Facebook pages may in a sense fully portray a person's character and place in society. However, I do not think that a Facebook page can be considered capable of being a "virtual personality". For example, my Facebook page shows the town I live in, the schools I have attended, what pages I have "liked", and my favorite books, movies, and musicians. In addition, you can see who I am friends with, the photographs I have been tagged in or have posted myself, and what people post on my own wall. Visitors to my page get a glimpse at what I do, what I like, and who I associate myself with. They will not, however, be able to tell much about my personality because I do not post my thoughts or anything of the sort as status updates.

There are definitely gendered differences to Facebook. Teenage girls and young women tend to have many more photos of themselves on their pages, whether posted by themselves or their friends. Females also seem to be more self-conscious as to how these photos portray themselves and obsess over posted photos more frequently. Utilizing social media to gain status as part of the "cool" or "in" crowd is a normal part of teen life. In "Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites", Boyd writes that this process is "part of how they [teens] work through the cultural practices and legal rules that govern society". While girls compare themselves and their body and fashion images to other girls and their respective body and fashion images, boys look to portray toughness and masculinity and try to compete with such portrayals of other boys. Most of the pages of my male friends on Facebook from high school are dominated by photos and posts related to sports or outdoor activities. It appears to me that these young men are hoping to create a representation of themselves that highlights their "manliest" aspects.