Assignment 4 : Facebook

Facebook is psychological space that allows for deception, perhaps in the minute sense, except if caught by loyal friends who know you almost as much as they know themselves. Information put onto a person’s profile can leave various impressions on people as there is a lack of cues. According to the impression management model, sites such as facebook give people the freedom to regulate the information they chose to make available to others. People are presenting themselves in a positive light to give a desired impression through word selection, choice of pictures, and what items you want displayed. I have always wondered how accurate people are with the information they provide for fellow classmates and friends to see and this is why I chose to interview a close friend about her truthfulness on Facebook.

I interviewed my friend on every aspect I could possibly think of concerning the accuracy of her profile descriptions. I began by asking about her personal information (her age, where she lives, religious views, political views, etc) and she replied with having all of those be true by rating them as a 5. For the longest time I found her political views as being totally opposite from what she expresses to certain people in person. She claims to be Republican but knowing her beliefs and expectations for our country, she is clearly a Democrat. I have no clue why she claims to be one when in person she claims to be another online. By doing this she is creating false impressions in people she knows as well as people she doesn’t know. Mostly everything else is pretty close to being accurate (rating items between 3-5) except for a couple fibs here and there. Under activities, she says she horseback rides all the time but in reality she has horseback riding a couple times and one of her favorite TV shows is not the Simpsons even though she claims it to be. She added the Simpsons to her list when the movie came out and all her friends loved it so she put in on her profile as well. She also told me, although I already deduced this myself, that she selected which information she wanted others to see so that people would get a good impression of her. I mean, who doesn’t do this to some extent and getting people to admit these things is somewhat of a difficult task. Where else does someone have the opportunity to present their ideal selves, ought selves, and actual selves. We achieve this through our self descriptions, our social associations, and the use of sets, props, and lights (profile picture).

Although my friend didn’t lie often, it’s not surprising to know that my friend feels more comfortable lying or “fibbing”, sometimes unintentionally, online as opposed to doing so face to face. She can’t hold a straight face ever especially when it concerns her. She’s also not quick with her words so being able to think of what she is going to say, or in this case write, gives her the ability to present herself in a captivating light. The Hyperpersonal model and the selective self presentation support my example. Lying online is more comfortable for her as opposed to doing so in person because of reduced cues and the ability to edit information. She wants to appear attractive by editing and limiting her descriptions. To make things even easier, conventional signals allows for a person, like my friend, to influence impressions. She uses specific nicknames, writes with a lot of slang, has certain applications, and adds specific music to her profile. Everyone is different and it’s interesting to see in which mediums people feel the urge to lie in and feel comfortable doing so.