Your "Self" is not Alone

Facebook is a virtual platform that reconceptualises our authentic self. In a social network, the concept of “I” is suddenly replaced with “we”, operating together to re-create a self.

Facebook promotes a true reflection of self through its foundation of authenticity. McNeill states that “[there is] credential of the proper name… users must sign up using their real names, verified by birth date and email address” (2012, p. 68). This element of the Facebook framework regulates adherence to our true self, allying both real and virtual identities.

This notion of authenticity is foregrounded in a statement made by Facebook CEO Sheryl Sandberg, proclaiming “you can’t be on Facebook without being your authentic self” (Kirkpatrick, 2010). However, McNeill states that “such regularising of identity… [can] design the self in ways that [can] be easily [accessed] for data mining” (2012, p. 70). The layout of the Profile categorises particular information which Facebook can then correlate to produce an online self (Kuttainen, 2016). This virtual selfhood thus becomes based on friend suggestions or identified relationships, affecting the authenticity of self.  

The ability for users to be more selective in the virtual world means that the status of a user’s “friends” can affect true self-presentation. McNeill states that “[the] networked self emphasises the collective nature of subjectivity” (2012, p. 73), as the absentness of something to determine authenticity reconceptualises identity to virtual self-inscriptions (McNeill, 2010, p. 68). This challenges the “nonymous” (McNeill, 2012, p. 68) environment of Facebook as our selfhood is no longer an individual reflection, rather a series of networked connections.

The overall concepts of authenticity and self are constructed in a way that is different to reality. Facebook’s use of data mining questions the determination of authenticity in the network, due to the construction of self favouring the concept of “we” over “I”. As a result, Facebook can only elicit some elements of our authentic self, due its social atmosphere.

Reference List

Kirkpatrick, D. (2010). The Facebook Effect. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Kuttainen, V. (2016). BA1002. Week 6. [PowerPoint Slides]. Retrieved from https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_76323_1&content_id=_2298427_1

Stanford eCorner. (2011). Sheryl Sandberg: The Importance of Authentic Communication. [Video  file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nRENaRCvLI

McNeill, L. (2012). There is No "I" in Network: Social Networking Sites and Posthuman Auto/Biography. Biography, 35(1), 65-82.