Blog 3

 Last winter I was participating in a residence life conference where we all had secret buddies to facilitate bonding. Since most of us had ever met in person a lot of people utilized some time-tested facebook stalking techniques in order to bring appropriate and useful gifts to the conference. Incidentally, I wasn’t one of those people and my buddy received a generic array of small gifts.

 

However, the person that had me as a buddy did research me through my facebook account and surprised me with a gift taken straight from the interests section on my profile page. It was a startling amount of Sour Patch Kids candy, and though I do generally enjoy that kind of candy, I had no idea how he knew about my slight preference for Sour Patch Kids. Even when he confessed that he checked my facebook profile, the only thought running through my mind was “Where on my facebook does it say that I like Sour Patch Kids?”

 

The point of this story is that I don’t actively manage my facebook profile, a fact that I didn’t realize until an almost stranger was presenting me with a packet of Sour Patch Kids. I’ve tried to think back to the first few hours of my facebook account when I added the interests that still identify me to the general facebook public. In attempting to get into the mind of the fifteen year old Roxanne, I realized how naïve she was about her presentation in the world of social media. Basically, she added interests as they crossed her mind, and when she couldn’t think of any more she exited the page and continued with her life.

 

There were infrequent occasions when I felt like adjusting my page, but I was always deterred by the “Roxy Dyer has updated her Interests” post that facebook automatically generates. It seemed like a rather dramatic statement that implied I was going through something life changing. This is the extent of my profile management, at least as far as text goes. Even though it’s pretty easy to delete hyperbolic posts from my wall, I’ve always felt a little strange about deleting posts. I’ve always had a certain idea about transparency on the Internet so I need a very compelling reason to actively delete posts.

 

Since the interests tab on Facebook isn’t visible unless you actually click on it, or if you’re not one of my friends, I don’t think about what my interests are or how they reflect my identity online. It’s only when I am confronted with those interests in my real life, like for example at the residence life conference, that I reflect on my interests page. Otherwise, I am pretty content to let the world believe that the only books I’ve ever read are by Philip Pullman.

 

Roxanne Dyer

@roxyredstar