Chapter 9 Discussion

On Facebook, I like to present myself in a way that shows my personality, but does not give away my personal life or make me look too sleazy. I hope that people will get the impression that I am fun but still responsible and, most importantly, respectable. I do not want to represent myself as someone who is constantly partying or dressing inappropriately. Though I do not claim to be perfect in any way, I would not want to lead others to those assumptions or to have them wrongfully judge me without knowing me personally. Especially because there are many “friends” on Facebook who do not actually know us well, it is important to be cautious about what we are posting since we don’t always have the chance to change their opinions. There aren’t many times that people have posted things to my profile that I wish they hadn’t. I don’t usually “friend” people unless I know them in some way, or have a good idea of their background.

This relates to conflict and communication because, as the book discusses, “the comments made by others about a person on his or her profile are more influential in creating impressions than statements one makes about oneself” (p. 169). If people are posting things that are negative or portray a negative side of your personality, that will have a greater effect on how you are viewed than if you post a positive status yourself. Also, with cyber relationships, it is easier to avoid or walk away from conflict situations instead of dealing with them and finding a resolution. The number of friends one has also affects the way he or she is perceived by others. Oddly enough, if one has too little or too many friends they are seen as unpopular because they either do not have many friends to begin with, or they are spending too much time on Facebook out of desperation and avoidance of real face-to-face interactions. Conflicts do not seem to be as valuable through Facebook and cyberspace, and it is easy to change someone’s impression of a person by simply viewing a profile.