Post #3: Profile ME
“You deleted your Myspace?! What’s WRONG with you?” I exclaimed at my friend when she told me the news.
She shrugged, and said, “I have a Facebook now. You should get on it.”
When I first laid eyes on Facebook – the new profile page in trend everyone was ditching Myspace for, I stared at it in distaste and confusion. How could this be appealing? I thought. You couldn’t even put in your own background, or change the font OR its color. How can you ever be unique with a profile like that? In stark contrast to my black & crimson patterned Myspace, Facebook’s plain and structured blue-and-white was disgusting. (Don’t judge, I was 15 and in my Goth phase) From that point on, I just knew that there would never be a day that I would give up my Myspace for anything because it was explicitly me.
“Yeah right,” I said to my friend, “You should just, like, keep Myspace, ‘cause no one is like, going to get on this.”
Well, who knew I would be so fickle? And SO wrong about Facebook’s popularity?
I can’t quite remember when I made the switch over or when my feelings about it began to change, but I do know that when I first made my profile, it was chock-full of information about myself just to make up for Facebook’s lack of user individuality. Interests, Activities, Movies, Television Shows, Quotes… everything had a very specific wording and order placement so that browsing eyes could catch the most important things about me. To the Me now, it all seems so pointless to care so much, but I guess in defense of myself and others who worked so hard to portray an identity, we were all just looking for an identity.
My profile today is so much more different. Again, I don’t really know how and when it began to change so much, but it was definitely a gradual change that came about through personal choice and Facebook’s constant lay out changes. In terms of my profile and self-representation, I definitely still care about what I put up, the status updates I post, and the photos that show up on my profile, of course, but for the most part, my Facebook page is catered to be more professional than personal. I tend to focus a lot more on making sure my Work section is up-to-date, and that my listed interests, films, and quotations are still hold-up as my favorite things. Everything I list on my profile page is definitely reflective of my tastes and interests, but I definitely make the effort to put forth what I believe to be the best and most interesting part of me. And yet… I have noticed that while my interests and tastes have changed and expanded over the years, I definitely have less to say on my profile about who I am. I think it has to do with a number of reasons. While I have matured, and am looking to build a more professional profile, it is also a matter of Facebook’s own limitations in its ability to display who I am. While you can list any number of things on your profile, I have realized that it just isn’t the same as ME… no matter how many words, topics, or movie titles, or inspirational/funny quotes I list, it can never fully encapsulate who I am
And at some point, I became okay with that.
Because I figured, that if someone is truly looking to get to know me and who I am really am, they should actually do so in person rather than remaining a perpetual stalker. Profiles are merely reflections of who we are and who we want to be in the eyes of others.
--Charli Lee