Katie's statement "Facebook participates in the dynamic, ongoing social process of personal and social identity as a communicative creation", summarizes what Facebook really is. (Ellis, p.41) She also explained how people represent themselves as they want to be represented. Generally, nobody posts things that they do not want others to know about or think about themselves. We consciously or subconsciously are creating our social identity every time we post something on Facebook.
I agree with this article because I see how it really applies to my own experiences with Facebook. For example, I really love music so often times I will put a quote on my page of a song I was listening to. Some times the quote relates to my own life and other times it doesn't. However one quote I used before was from the Eminem ft Rihanna song "Love the Way You Lie". That song is about a dysfunctional relationship so when I put a quote from there, several people messaged me wondering if I was okay. When in fact, I only put the quote up because the song was catchy to me and stuck in my head.
Even though only a few people messaged me regarding this post of mine, I am sure many more of my Facebook friends assumed that I was having relationship problems. So I am continuing to be aware and careful of the things I say because I do not want anything taken out of context in regard to my own life. But at the end of the day I did not create my Facebook page to inform people about my life. So if people are foolish enough to think they really "know" how someone is doing or who they are based upon their profile updates, they have got a lot to learn in life. Because as Katie mentioned, online, you can Be Who You Want to Be.
I’m still unfamiliar with a lot of the particulars about Facebook and I’m hoping to learn more as the semester goes on. But, I have heard similar instances about judging a person’s mood by what they have posted. It’s so easy to misinterpret a post or somebody’s current state solely on the basis of a profile update. I can see how somebody could completely misjudge a quote if somebody put one up. For instance, if I put up a quote from a movie and nobody from our class understood the quote that “friended” me on Facebook, they might get the wrong idea of what was meant. However, I would think that people that know a person in “real life” wouldn’t be so quick to make assumptions. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see with my brand new shiny Facebook account.
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