Facebook Impressions Fail
Sunday, October 4, 2009 by jayjay
Sunday, October 04, 2009 by jayjay
I do consider myself one of many who co-ordinate their lives dependently around new technologies, and definitely do I see benefits like catching up with others in the use of online spaces like social networking sites. However (and this is where the love and hate relationship kicks in), i do think it isn't all about the benefits either.
A large problem with the internet, specifically in regards to social network sites, is that this environment gives potential access to information that not only an individual wants to keep anonymous, but may even come across as misleading. For example, is the criteria for concluding that one is an irresponsible binge drinker deductible from the number of drunken photos they have on facebook? I think most people would say yes, and even if they didn't think so, after seeing such photos it would be hard to see someone in another light. But then what if i said that same individual turned 21 that year, and so did all the rest of their friends? i think most of us who have past this age would reconsider putting them in the category of raging alcoholic. Most people I think would know in the back of their heads that they are not getting all the information yet people still have the tendency to attribute aspects of others based on rather shallow inferences and ultimately come to judge a person from these descriptively meagre instances.
In this way, I think social network sites allow users to be judged like celebrities, and this is probably more relevant to those who indiscriminantly add others as friends, through the way in which such sites allow people to make assumptions without much or any contextual knowledge. It makes me wonder how much of our facebook profile content is sifted through as if it were tabloid magazine content.
So are facebook impressions really all that reliable? its been put forward that the user may use new media to deceive, but what of unintentional deception? I think this is how the employer, seeking information on potential employees largely fails, and where others may also come to trip behind as well, if the basis they use to make an impression relies largely on stereotypes.
I do consider myself one of many who co-ordinate their lives dependently around new technologies, and definitely do I see benefits like catching up with others in the use of online spaces like social networking sites. However (and this is where the love and hate relationship kicks in), i do think it isn't all about the benefits either.
A large problem with the internet, specifically in regards to social network sites, is that this environment gives potential access to information that not only an individual wants to keep anonymous, but may even come across as misleading. For example, is the criteria for concluding that one is an irresponsible binge drinker deductible from the number of drunken photos they have on facebook? I think most people would say yes, and even if they didn't think so, after seeing such photos it would be hard to see someone in another light. But then what if i said that same individual turned 21 that year, and so did all the rest of their friends? i think most of us who have past this age would reconsider putting them in the category of raging alcoholic. Most people I think would know in the back of their heads that they are not getting all the information yet people still have the tendency to attribute aspects of others based on rather shallow inferences and ultimately come to judge a person from these descriptively meagre instances.
In this way, I think social network sites allow users to be judged like celebrities, and this is probably more relevant to those who indiscriminantly add others as friends, through the way in which such sites allow people to make assumptions without much or any contextual knowledge. It makes me wonder how much of our facebook profile content is sifted through as if it were tabloid magazine content.
So are facebook impressions really all that reliable? its been put forward that the user may use new media to deceive, but what of unintentional deception? I think this is how the employer, seeking information on potential employees largely fails, and where others may also come to trip behind as well, if the basis they use to make an impression relies largely on stereotypes.