Marketing You

It’s been a long time since I last blogged. There has been no shortage of things to say but I’ve struggled with how transparent one’s public self should actually be. How much of my soul is appropriate to bear to the anonymous readers who visit my blog. As long as I can remember, I’ve strived to be exactly who I am to everyone. I believe that everyone tries too hard to hide their dark days and their questioning thoughts for fear of accusations of blasphemy or judgment from our peers. If I truly believe that God is only one who judges and that he alone is the only audience I should be striving to please then what do I gain by presenting something less than myself to others? However, as I get older, I have begun to understand the value of discretion and that there are some things that should be held sacred and shared only with those in whom I place the most trust. Giving all I have to offer to any casual acquaintance is akin to casting pearls before swine. This is why I’m sometimes fascinated as I browse Facebook.

I have Facebook friends who use the site as a type of public confessional. Some have publically announced to the world that they are lonely and tired of being single, that their last boyfriend was a complete jerk, or that they are plagued with dark thoughts and want to give up on life. Once again, I am a huge proponent of honesty, we are all crazy on some level. However, I also believe that we should do our best to contain crazy as much as possible.

The way I see it, in all actuality, your Facebook profile isn’t really you anyway. It’s a projection of your created self, the self you want to be perceived as, not the self you necessarily are. Think of it as an art project or an advertising campaign. It’s marketing at its finest; we carefully manage what is seen and what is not. Were you tagged in an unattractive picture? Delete the tag. Are you sitting at home alone on a Friday night eating popcorn and watching Titanic with tears in your eyes for the hundredth time? Tell the world you reveling in a much needed night in while contemplating the meaning of life. Think about the thought and effort that is placed into the perfect profile. Are the favorite movies you listed really your favorite movies or the movies you like that say the most about the person you hope others perceive you to be?

My favorite part of Facebook is the status update function. An article I read recently, touted them as “spontaneous bursts of being.” These brief snap-shots of our closest “friends” daily lives capture poetic moments that prior to the invention of the status update were forever lost. Moments as profound as “cleaning the house” or “watching the bachelor and baking cookies”, are now shared with hundreds of our closest friends at the push of a button. However, what I find the most interesting about status updates is not what they actually say but what the subject is attempting to say about themselves through them. Like tiny press releases we control what the public should think is going on with our product. I myself have fallen prey to this tool, posting a carefully constructed, “is having an incredible day thanks to her amazing friends” when I’m trying to send a subtle message to a guy, “your apparent lack of interest does not affect my mood or the rest of my life for that matter. Take that.”