rough draft

I have chosen Facebook for this essay because I think that it best represents my social media identity. It is the only social networking site that I ever use. I have never really gotten the appeal of Twitter, Pinterest, or Instagram, because Facebook has all the things that those websites have all in one website. On Facebook, you have the option to post statuses, upload photos, comment on others’ pictures of statuses, and many other things. Everything that I post on my Facebook becomes a part of my social media identity.

I first joined Facebook in December of 2009. This was halfway through my sophomore year. The only reason I even joined Facebook was because my friends wanted me to. However, I ended up liking Facebook. I, like most people, got on it nearly every day. I would sit in front of my computer screen for hours and read status after status. Look at picture after picture. Until I got bored and probably switched to a different site or went to find some food since everyone likes to eat when they’re bored. Most of the time I never posed anything. Usually all I ever did on Facebook was “Facebook creep”. Facebook creeping is when you visit your friends’ profiles to see what they are up to. It allowed me to be up to date on everything. I always knew what couples broke up and when it happened, the new couples who just got together, who’s birthday it was, or any other drama that went on. The things that I found on the profiles of whomever I was creeping would shape my impressions of them.

Although we like to judge others by their Facebook profiles, there is only so much that they can tell about a person from their Facebook. After a minute or two on my Facebook, you can learn that my name is Grace Jennings, my boyfriend is Austin Hinkel, I like the shows House and Glee, my birthday is September 7^th, and I work at subway. If you look a little longer, you can learn from my pictures that I went to Europe last summer, I am pretty close with my brother Jake, and who my close high school friends were. Now after looking at my Facebook, you might think you know me pretty well. But there are so many things that you won’t find out. Like the fact that I like to watch soccer games, or that I want to be a dentist, or that I have a fear of feet. So Facebook does not represent my full identity but it does show some areas of it.

 

My current profile picture

With Facebook, there are many ways to show areas of your identity. I want my Facebook profile to best represent me. To do this, you can “like” pages of your favorite TV shows, movies, or music. You can show your political views, your religious views, your sexuality, and so many things. You can also write in an “about me” section to tell a little about yourself. But I think the best way to show your identity is through what you post and the pictures you upload. Posting funny statuses makes you funny. Posting photos of you and your friends having fun makes you look fun.  We base our opinions of people off of these things so you want them to best represent you.

One annoying thing about Facebook is that everyone knows your business. If you post something, then seconds later everyone knows it. But I guess that’s the entire reason we post stuff isn’t it. The goal is to get as many “likes” you can get. To get as many comments as possible. For as many people to see what we post as we can. But it does get annoying sometimes. If someone has a bad breakup, and everyone sees it on Facebook, then the next day at school everyone will be talking about it. I would not like to be the subject of everyone’s conversations just because of a Facebook status.

 

I think this sums up the last paragraph

The article “Is Facebook making us lonely?” by Atlantic magazine, expresses a fear that Facebook is making us lonelier because it causes us to distance ourselves from everyone else.  There are over five hundred million Facebook users. So how could it be making us lonelier when there are so many people to talk to on the site? In my opinion, I think Facebook making me lonelier because I stay online too long trying to stay connected to people from my past instead of meeting more people in college. I think this happens to a lot of people in college.

Another thing that Facebook is doing is making people more anti-social. We are so used to talking to people from the safety of behind our computer. It’s so much easier to say something over the internet rather than to someone’s face. Because of this it is easier to say things we normally wouldn’t. But when in person, because we’re so used to hiding behind our technology, it’s harder to communicate.