4-2 Facebooking 101

First of all, I don't know about anyone else, but I think it's pretty cool that Prof. Hancock has a theory "named" after him(indirectly), and that his paper is read in his class. I'm sure a lot of Professors have theories, but he is the first one to apply it appropriately in class for me.

I chose to do the second option, the anatomy of a facebook profile. I talked to one of my dormmates and asked them to help me out and let me use their facebook.


I should preface this post by saying that I don't have a facebook, nor have a used it more than sparsely. I know the features, but I am not obsessed with whom "friended" whom or the like.


The basic info was all 100% (5) factual: A/S/L, graduation, school, phone and DOB. I would venture to say that only the most pedophilic of creepers lies about this information. There may be other reasons to lie about this but why, I am not sure.


Now into the juicy stuff. I found out that this kid is basically a "facebook whore". (I am trademarking this if no one has used it before). He friends EVERYONE. I asked him about this and he said that it makes him feel more liked if he has more friends, kind of. He has friends that he's never met before. God is his friend, so are about 3 people named Pam Anderson, and one named Brit Spears. Iasked him if he was really friends with God and he informed me that "Jesus was his homie". People that he has told me he hates or cannot stand are still his facebook friends.

This leads into deceptions about feelings in CMC or FtF. Although not a theory, it does say something towards the secondary results of the study about deceptions of feelings. Clearly my friend is either decieving these "friends" in facebook or in FtF, (or he could be lying to me, which is an interesting alternative and would make the subject of a great comment).

I feel like this friend lied about feelings more online and a little FtF, but was completely honest about accomplishments. Quantifying friending people as deceptive was hard because I also had to consider his honesty with me in the past. I gave him a 2 because I was not sure, but I was sure to ask him about it.

He said that people who knew him saw his facebook. Most of them knew where he was from or what he had done. Lying here would only lead to thr digging of his own grave while trying to get out from being buried under a cycle of deception.

Social Distance theory would predict that the lying occured in facebook, which it didn't if you look at it one way; however, people who follow this theory could argue that he was lying in facebook when he friended them. People on the other side of the fence would say that he was lying FtF when he pretended to like them. This is an interesting concept that is very ambiguous and unclear.

As I said before, only very "special" (and I mean that in the weirdest creepiest possible way) people lie about this and they usually have a "special" motive, be it sexual, financial, or furry (LOL) in nature.