I have always thought of my friend X as being a very truthful person; in the 13 years that I have known her, I’ve never heard her tell a lie, stretch the truth, or attempt to mislead anyone. Yet, when it comes to the digital world, it seems that X is far from truthful. The items listed in her Facebook profile far from predict the person whom she really is.
Although, on a scale from 1 to 5 (1 being completely inaccurate, 5 being completely accurate), X rated herself 4’s or 5’s on everything except relationship status (she is “married” to her best friend Y, like so many friends are on Facebook), my cross-validation using what I know about X reveals otherwise. Under the favorite music category, X included the band Coldplay, a group she dislikes so much that she made me change the Coldplay CD that was in my car while on a long ride this past summer. Under the interests category, X claims to be interested in the Yankees, but I am certain that if asked, she would not be able to name a single player on the team (besides the ever so good looking Derek Jeter of course). And, under the favorite movies group, X has the movie Super Bad listed; a movie she told me she thought was highly overrated.
What I found more interesting, however, than the above small white lies on X’s profile was the information she choose not to reveal. Because I know that the wonderful hit High School Musical is on the top of her list of favorite movies, I asked her why she choose not to include it on her profile. Her response went as follows: “A twenty-something year old with High School Musical as her favorite movie? What, do you want me to be more uncool than I already am?” Moreover, when I grilled her on other obviously missing parts of her profile, her responses too generated around trying to create an ideal self of being extremely cool, laid back, and fun.
X’s creation of her profile fits in perfectly with O’Sullivan’s Impression Management Model, as Facebook was a way for her to regulate impression management by using selective self-presentation. In order for X to fit the cool and fun person that she wanted to appear to be, she selected what information she felt would enhance and detract from this ideal impression. Because Coldplay and Super Bad is what society deems as hip and trendy at this moment, X included these items in order to fit in with this status quo.
X’s photos are also a great example of her use of selective self-presentation in her Facebook profile. While she has probably been tagged in over 400 pictures (over 100 that were probably from me), she currently only has 78 pictures tagged of herself. Like so many of us do, in those pictures where X believes she doesn’t look the way she wants others to see her, she detags herself and her profile is no longer associated with the picture.
All of the items described above, such as interests, favorite movies, quotes, and music, are examples of conventional signals, as they are low cost displays that are only conventionally associated with a characteristic. It is very simple as well as practical to effectively use deception on conventional signals, as these are the mains items that help in impression management. Moreover, conventional signals are also harder to detect as lies. In contrast, assessment signals, costly displays directly related to an organisms characteristics, are much less practical and much more difficult to use deception on. These include hometown, birthday, sex, and network, and using deception on these areas is not really beneficial or practical to impression management, as it is very easy to detect a lie about one’s birthday or network.
X’s ability to effectively use deception on her Facebook profile was due to its online environment and the self-presentation tactics that she decided to use. The lack of nonverbal, vocal, and situational cues allowed X to effectively manage her impression the way she wanted to be seen by others, something she could have never accomplished in face to face communication.
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http://comm245yellow.blogspot.com/2007/09/blog-4-facebook-fraud.html
http://comm245yellow.blogspot.com/2007/09/4-facebook-deception.html
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3 comments:
Hey Lauren!
Job well done on the post! I thought it was very interesting that you chose someone who you thought of as being super-truthful, and well the opposite turned out to be the only truth. It's pretty interesting to see what people think of as cool and uncool. You said "High School Musical" is probably her favorite movie, but regardless, she didn't include it on her list because she felt it was too uncool for a 20 year old. At this point, we should ask ourselves what guidelines are we following? Or better yet, whose guidelines are we following? Who distinguishes what is cool or not? And going from 400 pictures to 78 pictures...that is a huge drop. Self-presentation exercised to its fullest!
Facebook deception at its finest! =)
Great job Lauren!
It's funny how even honest people somehow feel comfortable lying when it comes to the online world. The difference with Facebook is what we put on our profile can be seen by anyone, but we aren't saying it directly to any single person. In this way we don't feel the effects of our deception when we type it. Also, I had a similar experience with my friend when I evaluated her profile in regards to things left off her page. It seems that most people don't really consider lies of omission as true deception.
While your friend might not have considered Super Bad one of her favorite movies, she could probably justify why it was a decent movie worthy of Facebook list status. We associate Facebook with our peers who have largely accepted Super Bad as a great movie, and through behavioral confirmation we list it as such.
I’m very impressed at your in-depth examination of the profile. You made some great connections to the theories. Including “hip and trendy” movies and music is a very common trend that I’ve seen in Facebook profiles. I think it can be a way of indentifying yourself in a certain group of people. For instance someone reading the profile could have a general impression of someone who listens to Coldplay, and maybe the individual does fit that type even though they musically prefer, lets say heavy metal. Yet saying Coldplay describes their personality better. So in that case, maybe the deception actually might lead to a more accurate impression about the individual.
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