Crafting your image on Facebook

Thèmes abordés

Facebook, friendship, identity, superficiality

Résumé du document

What is the new role of Facebook in the emergence of identity?At first sight, facebook is a social network allowing people to keep contact all over the world with their friends. But this study shows that far from being restricted to a means of communication, Facebook has become a tool for exploring your identity.

Extraits

[...] Crafting your image on Facebook We can wonder what the new role of Facebook is in the emergence of identity. At first sight, facebook is a social network allowing people to keep contact all over the world with their friends. But this study shows that far from being restricted to a means of communication, Facebook has become a tool for exploring your identity. Indeed, Facebook users can create a virtual version of themselves, a kind of avatar, putting forward the aspects they want other people to know about, and deleting the photos or messages showing their flaws. [...]

[...] “Friend” then becomes an uncertain notion, closer to accessories aimed at promoting your image than to human beings. As a result, everything becomes “planned” and virtual on Facebook, and far from reflecting real friendly relationships, it equals displaying your life on a stage for prying eyes. Although Facebook can really prove useful, this study urges users to be careful and not to fall in the trap of living life online, because only honesty can prevent them from superficial relations and fake identity. [...]