What's open in another tab right now? Facebook. What do I check as soon as I get back to my room? Facebook. What do I peruse while bored in lectures? Facebook. What gives me first impressions on people, tells me what my friends are doing, allows me to reconnect with old friends, share my thoughts, and make weekend plans? Facebook. Do I sound addicted? The funny thing is, I'm not. I'm not nearly as bad as so many of my friends- while on vacation I don't insist on checking it from my phone. I rarely make those pointless and frustrating status updates, I never leave rambling videos for friends while intoxicated, I don't "like" everything on my friends' pages. I rarely change my profile picture, haven't changed my "About Me" since like the ninth grade, and am not crushed if not enough people comment on my statuses. I have friends who can sit on Facebook for hours, constantly refreshing their homepage, stalking pictures of people on vacation who they've never even had a conversation with. Facebook opens a lot of doors- it's great, and it also can be quite creepy.
What constantly frustrates me with Facebook is how to accurately represent myself. When I found out I was living with seven other girls first semester in a supplemental dorm, I turned immediately to Facebook, analyzing each of their profile pictures and About Me's, looked at what kind of music and movies they like. My impressions were as follows: one of the girls is really edgy and chill, as I gleaned from her profile picture captions being all Eminem lyrics and her Religious Views something blase like "Believe Whatever You Want." One of the girls was the typical high school athlete: soccer star, lax girl, probably had a million friends and loved to party. One girl seemed bitchy- she had barely any people post on her wall and her profile pictures indicated she was one of those uber-attractive girls who just thinks they're too good for everyone. The last profile I stalked was of my current roommate, and she just seemed downright intimidating. Her status updates were sassy, filled with curse words and references to partying and going out, her pictures all of her tanned and blonde and with other tanned blonde people. The final three girls didn't have Facebook- a cardinal social sin that made me immediately dismiss them as weird.
Boy, was I wrong. The edgy girl turned out to be the most straight-edge person I've ever encountered- a girl who sits in on the weekends and studies, who never used a curse word or said anything remotely forcible. The athlete? A total girly-girl, with all-pink sheets and a pink laptop and pink picture frames framing pictures of her wearing pink clothes. The bitchy girl? One of the absolute sweetest girls I've ever met- always warm and ready to talk and give advice and share clothes. And my current roommate? Yeah, she is kinda sassy. But she has the wittiest sense of humor I've ever encountered and is compassionate and caring to a fault.
One night we all shared our first impressions of each other from our Facebooks. I told them what I thought and we all laughed, then I asked what they thought of me. "Quiet," one said. "Artsy," said another. "I thought you'd be boring," said the girl I'm currently rooming with, always one to speak her mind.
Quiet? Artsy? Boring?! What did I do to give off this impression? What made me seem quiet? My biblical quote in the quotes section? Artsy? My one black and white profile picture from Photobooth? Boring?!?! That one made me revamp my Interests and Activities. Facebook is complicated- just now I received a Friend Request from a guy I met out last weekend. I viewed my profile quickly before accepting- do I seem boring? Artsy? Quiet? Moments later I realized- how silly. If anyone worth my time would dismiss me because of something they saw on my Facebook, they're not worth my time. And the sad thing? Those dismissals happen all the time. Facebook is fragile- I never want to come off too strong, never want to sound too philosophical or dramatic. Facebook is a prime example of Rhetoric, one we encounter and manipulate every day.
I'm not obsessed with Facebook but I do find myself on it whenever I'm bored or just mindlessly on my computer. I was never so self conscious as over the summer when I realized that the first impression that I would give my future roommate was what my Facebook page looks like. This was the person that I would be living with for an entire year, I at least wanted to make a good impression. I wouldn't have thought about Facebook in a rhetorical way but your argument is completely right - it truly is a great example.
ReplyDeleteFacebook really is full of rhetoric! Very creative i love it =]
ReplyDeleteI was one of those "weird" kids who didn't have facebook until a week before I came to college. My profile still doesn't include much personal information other than my hometown and I go to Penn State, so I honestly don't think its an accurate portrayal of me. However, I do agree with your analysis of the general rhetoricalness (is that a word---if not, I'm making it one haha) of Facebook.
ReplyDeleteFacebook truly is a magical place of rhetoric. No, but seriously though, I have cancelled my Facebook so many times, only to come back to it because that is how most people communicate these days. Every time I cancel it, I find myself missing out on important online conversations or party invites. I especially miss getting to "creep" on the new people I meet, in hopes of figuring out whether I could actually see myself being friends with them or not. You make a really good point!
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