Dissecting My Myspace.

I’ve had a myspace profile for a couple years now, so for this assignment I am going to attempt to take an objective look at it.

First, a quick rundown of my profile’s elements. My picture changes frequently, but it’s currently a shot from the fourth of July barbeque I attended with my family. My one-year-old daughter is sitting on my shoulders smiling and my eyes are focused upward. On my face is a bemused expression. My current headline is “Few things are more frightening to the establishment than a punk with an education,” a line I came up with while I was driving the other day. My current profile song is “Infected” by my favorite band Bad Religion. I have a slideshow with pictures of my daughter from birth to just recently. There is a video of me performing improv and a virtual cat you can feed and play with. I’ve also got the standard education and interests sections along with my top twelve friends and a long list of comments.

I’m interested in the ways I may be subconsciously (or consciously) manipulating my personal identity, as Wood and Smith describe in chapter 3.

I think there is a definite impression I’m trying to create for my profile’s viewers. My song choice, for example, is from my favorite band, so it’s not surprising, but I’d never think about putting some of the more popular music I enjoy in its place. My music snobbery is also present in my interests section. My list is almost all punk bands, with Bon Jovi and Johnny Cash thrown in for good measure. This list is far from comprehensive, however. When I’m riding in my girlfriend’s car and she puts in a Kelly Clarkson CD, I don’t exactly complain. I’d never put that I like her on my profile. (even admitting it here is a little difficult). I may enjoy her music, but I don’t want my friends to know about it. Ironic that it’s the people that know me best that I wish to hide this from. My profile is set to private, mostly to cut down on the spam I receive, so they are the only ones who will see it.

The elements of my profile combine to create a persona that, while it does represent a part of me, is far from comprehensive. It’s an interesting dichotomy, baby pictures versus punk music and photos of me partying with my friends. It’s a little embarrassing to realize, but my profile makes me look like a new father desperately trying to cling to his younger, less responsible days.

If I can inadvertently create a profile that conveys this type of impression, imagine the degree to which someone could purposefully distort their identity. I could remove all the baby pictures from my profile and change my children status back to none. We all have friends we rarely see in real life for whom the only updates on our lives come through myspace or facebook. If I had never updated my status or added the baby pictures in the first place, it would be as though my daughter never existed. It’s scary to think about, but I could probably maintain this façade indefinitely.

The Brad Paisley video I watched for last week’s assignment was intended to be funny, but it really wasn’t that far from the truth. It actually wouldn’t take much effort to create a myspace page that painted me as a very different person. It’s important to remember to take CMC with a grain of salt, there is no telling what kind of alterations the person you’re communicating with may have been able to make. Nobody is completely who they appear to be online.