My Social Network Profile

As time progresses, I’ve found myself becoming less and less likely to post all of my ‘true’ interests to my Facebook profile.  In the short period of time that I had a MySpace in early high school, I had dozens of my favorite bands, TV shows, films, and books listed in hopes that my profile would accurately portray my interests and character.  I kept that same idea when I first joined Facebook in 2006, and had my ‘favorites’ listed as I entered college and formed my new friendships.

Once I was settled at school, I suddenly no longer felt the desire to portray all of my ‘real’ interests on my Facebook profile.  I had always left my “about me” as a YouTube link to a random funny video rather than writing about myself, and that mentality slowly transferred to all other aspects of my profile.  Where I once felt ‘cool’ listing the thirty or so indie bands that I was into at any given moment, my one music interest merely reads “DJ Roomba!,” a Parks and Recreation reference that links to its fan-made Facebook page.  I was amused by Facebook’s recently added, “People Who Inspire You” section, and added Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride, “Boo” (the little Facebook dog phenomenon), and “Spagett!,” a character from Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!  None of these fictional/canine characters are my true inspirations, and much of my reasoning for adding them was that they had Facebook pages that would show up as tiny icon pictures on my profile.  In somewhat recent structure alterations, Facebook has made it so that any “interest” that doesn’t have a proper Facebook page has a gray standard “music,” “film,” etc. icon rather than a photograph, and it throws off the fluidity.  If I did decide to accurately list all of my favorite bands, shows, and films, there are several that do not have Facebook pages, and the random gray icons for my Facebook-less interests would inevitably get on my nerves.

The only life events that inspire a change in my profile are school enrollments/graduations, jobs, and changes in relationships, although I am currently engaged in a four-year-long fake Facebook marriage that doesn’t seem to be changing any time soon (unless my fake husband decides otherwise).  As I get older, my desire to change my profile to accurately portray my current interests and life-status is fading.  The fact that I used to think, “I found this awesome new band, I need to add it to my profile” seems so foreign to my current Facebook mentality.  I do my best to only accept friend requests from ‘friends’ who already know me, and my assumed audience is those who won’t feel the need to learn about me from my social network profile.

Jen L.