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| Image from Science Daily |
You shouldn’t believe everything that’s on your ‘friends ’profiles.
That’s the impression I got when scrolling through my news feed. Facebook is just like an autobiography for
anybody who has an internet connection. Just like “A
Million Little Pieces” not all the facts are true.
On the internet we like to communicate ourselves through
status updates, relationship status, our likes, etc. All of these things
combined make up its own persona. “Self-narratives, like maps, are constructs
for a particular purpose and context” (Van Luyn, 2013), this can be applied for
Facebook, as the modern society likes to advertise their personality online.
Whether it’s a virtual personality or non-virtual, it’s all made up from one person’s
point of view, this could be done to make other people think a certain way
about you through certain personality traits.
“Facebook’s interest in getting its users to know more about
each other is part of that search for data their technology both produces and
mines” (McNeill, 2012). This helps re-iterate that even though you communicate
power through your personal profile, at the end of the day you are only helping
Facebook gather as much information about you, only to show other people your
info. This is why some people choose to be very private on their internet profiles.
The fear that someone else other than your friends is
scouring your profile for advertising purposes is enough to turn people away
from being openly active on their profile. Instead they rely on this crazy face
to face concept.
References
McNeill, L. (2012). “There
Is No "I" in Network: Social Networking Sites and Posthuman
Auto/Biography.” Biography 35.1, 111. Biographical Research Center.
Van Luyn, A. (2013) BA1002:
Our Space: Networks, Narratives and the Making of Place, Lecture 4: Narrative.
Image Credit
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130502082247.htm
Sean, an insightful and thought provoking blog. The point you raised about our personal communicative movements being mapped by Facebook so they can use it as data, is a scarey thought. McNeil also raises the point that the data collected forms algrythms that personalise each individuals virtual experience according to characteristics entered on profiles and online interactions (2012). Although your blog touches on this point, I believe that a connection must be made from this data collection to the influence of community and the formation of identity. Our Facebook identities are influenced by our interactions online: our timelines are dynamic biographical narratives that update continously according to 'friend' contributions and our own virtual movements (Van Luyn, 2013). As you can see, the virtual identity does not only assist the commercial world in customising online advertising for ourselves but is also changed constantly, not by ourselves but by others.
ReplyDeleteIt is a scary thought, to think that someone or something is constantly checking and rechecking our personal details and movements online in order to target us more specifically with ads and other promotions. As was mentioned in our week 4 lecture, 'autobiographical data is a commodity in which to sell users products' (2012). This isn't just limited to ads, recently Facebook began tailoring apps to your profile and promoting them in your news feed, along with pages and groups. Friends can also recommend pages, apps and more. Even other friends. Even Youtube, where very little autobiographical data needs to be provided, is able to keep track of your searches and tailor their ads and the videos the display particularly to you. The tiniest bit of data can be a commodity.
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