For this post, I interviewed my best friend and roommate, Rachel, a 21-year-old Fashion Merchandising student living in Lower Manhattan.
- What social media platforms do you use now/have you used in the past?
Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat now, Myspace in the past.
2. Do you use your real name? Have you ever used an alias or created a fake account?
I use my real name—in the past, I’ve made my username a nickname or something based off of my hobbies (dance).
3. What different personas do you construct in each of these platforms and how do they relate to aspects of life experiences?
Facebook is more of a way to stay connected to family and old friends—I give off a more professional/innocent version of myself. Instagram is for fashion and lifestyle, where I show off the best aspects of my life (cute outfits, good hair day, makeup, etc.).
Snapchat is only with friends and kept private. It’s where I post everyday stuff, funny stuff, and drunk nights going out.
4. Do the digital personas you construct help you cope with problems or do they create new problems?
They definitely cause problems…pictures with alcohol in them on Facebook can make you look like a “partier” and turn off employers, friends can find out they were left out of plans through social media, ex-boyfriends can see who you’ve moved on to, etc. Social media is only a tiny, skewed glimpse into someone’s life and can easily give off a completely different image of who you really are, which can really affect both your professional and personal life.
Interviewing Rachel echoed a lot of thoughts I’ve had while researching this subject. In Turkle’s writing, she talks about the idea of multiple identities within one person, an element of modern social life that Rachel touched upon in her interview. “The Internet is another element of the computer culture that has contributed to thinking of identity as a multiplicty,” she writes. This definitely holds true, as we see that people create different identities on each social platform when they choose what to share on each. Rachel’s view of each platform—Facebook as a family-friendly view of life, Instagram as a highlight reel, and Snapchat as a source of comedic, partying moments—seems to reflect the way a lot of millennials view these apps and their purposes in our social lives.
Adrian Athique comments on this view as well, writing about the idea of “self-presentation” and its place in modern social behavior. “…The public-private binary denotes a series of mutually understood social conventions which determine the most appropriate gestures for social media.” If this thinking is to be true, then it makes sense why we feel the need to separate and categorize each life event according to where it falls on the spectrum of social acceptability. For example, a heartfelt post on Mother’s Day might best be suited to Facebook while a video of friends clinking glasses at brunch would be better received on Snapchat.
Questions
1. Do you agree with these views of each platform and their audiences? If not, please explain your own views.
2. What are the possible consequences of posting something on the “wrong” platform?
I do agree with the views of each platform especially Facebook, employers are on there so you want to put on your good side.As for Instagram I post all my best moment like going to dinner or a party with friends and I follow fashion pages and lifestyle pages. Consequences of posting something on the wrong platform, would be like posting a video of you smoking hookah and a prospective employer sees it, it may have a negative effect on your application.
I don’t believe there are consequences necessarily on posting things on the “wrong platform” because it is up to you to decide what you think is best for your social media channels. However certain types of posts do have consequences especially when it comes to things such as occupation. I have heard many cases where employees have been terminated based on what they have posted. Or their conduct online.