One of the main things that I wanted to look at was how people control their ethos on their personal "Profiles" on websites like Facebook.com. People join these web pages with the hopes of meeting new people as well as keeping in touch with old friends. The web page has become more than a place for people to stay in contact with one another. Facebook.com has become a place where people can control who they want to be, and what people think of them. A person can "tag" themselves as a vampire or werewolf and start "biting" other users as a form of invitation to the same application to add to their profile. Recent studies have shown that although the Facebook creators do not let anyone under the age of 13 use their website, it is very easy for anyone to lie about their age and create a profile that is based on a lie. There have been other studies that have shown the human brain can only deal with five close friends at a time. This study further proves that Facebook users who claim to have hundreds or thousands of "friends" is a lie in itself, thus creating a false identity. People can post their views, beliefs, and interests based on what other people want to read, with hopes that the user will gain more attention from other users.
For a presentation I plan to show the progress of my fake facebook person. By the end of my study I hope to show that my false identity has grown to the popularity of the everyday facebook user. I will add a good number of extra applications and join a few groups to see if that increases my popularity. I also plan to use a power point presentation to display the information I have found from my research. I will also have slides containing some of my own findings that I have acquired over the course of my personal study. This will include a survey of USCA students from different on campus groups (i.e. sports teams, frat's, sororities, and other organizations). By the end of the study I hope to find out approximately how many time the average students checks their facebook, how important the facebook account is to their everyday life, and how and why they chose their profile pictures.
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4 comments:
I think that it sounds like you have your presentation pretty much under control! I really like the idea of your creating the fake persona to highlight how shallow those profiles really are. After all, facebook or myspace can't be a supplement for real relationships. I wonder if the people who misrepresent themselves actually undergo any changes as a result? One of the really great thing about friends is that they can help you grow into a better person becuase they really know you and your situations.
Are you at all concerned that people may not join up as your friend? Why'd you choose Facebook over MySpace? I recently heard someone say that "MySpace is out." If so, I wonder why one may go in and out of popularity when essentially they are the same. Perhaps the aren't the same though, and I am just not in the cool kid loop. Have you thought of why this may be so popular with younger people (even those under 13) than those of older. I am only 22, but I think it's creepy that someone can just type in any name and find you. Like I said previously, USA Today just had a story on the "Look at me" group (10/23/2007) Check it out if you can.
I think that this is an interesting topic. I am interested in your finding. Especially pertaining to your fake facebook account. It makes me wonder how many people actually falsely represent themselves. It is a little frightening to think about how many people may dmo this. Another question is why do people trust others so much, especially when a lot of the people on facebook they have never met?
With your fake facebook account, are you targeting a specific type of person? I know that when I accept a friend request, I rarely accept or pay any attention to it unless there is some connectedness. Also, will you be interviewing students and asking them how often they pay attention to the groups they join or how often they get on? It would be neat to see an actual effect rather than a fake facebook effect; however, I think it is really funny and interesting!
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