Faces of Facebook

I really like this bog post from Tessa about how online spaces can mean your public and private worlds collide.

Check it out: 

http://tessatessa.wordpress.com/2008/04/13/why-im-opening-up-the-space-and-not-censoring-the-face/

I agree with Tessa that we all have different sides of our personality that we show to different people at different times: "I would argue that we all have multiple personalities, or perhaps more accurately one mulifaceited personality. Different social situations act as forums to express different elements of our personalities. I am a different person around my friends to what I am when I visit my grandparents or when I am at work. I use different language, discuss different topics and wear different clothes. I think what social media is doing is making it possible for these different personalities to cross over."

I like the idea that social media allows a person's various personalities to interact and cross over, although at the same time this is part of the reason why I think I have never wanted to join Facebook or MySpace! I'm a very private person, even this blogging that we have had to do for uni has been a struggle for me in some respects, and I have always been cautious about sharing all my personalities with the world. The idea of old school "friends" (who are not friends at all, and never really were) getting in contact with me now and finding out what I'm doing irks me. If someone is a genuine friend then we would have kept in touch, or they will find a way to track me down without Facebook. I consider myself to be such a different person than I was at high school (although that's probably not true!) that I don't like the idea of my present and my past colliding.

I was surprised to read in Tessa's post that she had a potential employer check her Facebook profile. I would find that invasive but, then again, as Tessa points out, if you want to share all your personalities with the world then you should be proud and comfortable to do so.

Perhaps one day I'll lose out on employment because I don't have a Facebook/MySpace site!

I still feel uncomfortable with the amount of information people put about themselves on the internet. It's like Big Brother is always watching and I feel I get chastised sometimes for not joining in, as though it's some kind of political rebellion I'm engaging in.

I should start a Facebook group, for people who have no intention of ever joining Facebook!