Interaction

I really like the article called "None of this is Real." Going along with my interest in identity, I loved how the author made me think about ways that identity is constucted. I realize that identity is created online in one's profile, in the groups that they join, in their digital photos, in their interests and hobbies. But I didn't realize that accepting or declining friends would also indicate a level of identity as well. I love the statement "People convey impressions and these are usually deliberate." If you want people to know who you are and what you are about, you can do so in many different ways, and the opposite is true as well. If your profile only features "friends" who are attractive and you always decline people who are unattractive, what is that telling the other users and what are you trying to convey?

I also found the fact that there were 300,000 Friendster users in June 2003 and then 3.3 million by October 2003. That is an AMAZING jump - thanks to blogs, other social networks, the media, and viral marketing, Friendster is a great example of what word-of-mouth marketing can do. 3 million more users in 3 months and not really doing any work at all - that's my kind of marketing! I would be interesting to see if Friendster really did do any kind of marketing for this product, or if it was just the nature of the product in general that lured people into creating accounts.

I also enjoyed the onling dating article. Even though I feel like you should expect some sort of desception when you sign onto these accounts (and why not when 86% of users are deceptive!), it's also easy to see why people do it. Maybe they think that the other person won't really notice - 5 pounds here or there and an inch or less may not really be that noticable and does it really matter? Or maybe they think that once the date comes, the deceiver might be able to win the other person over with his sparkling personality.

I also thought it was funny that the article basically said to lie in certain ways - "In online dating profiles, women should lie more about characteristics related to youth and physical attractiveness." That seems kind of funny. It would be one thing to say that men like young women, but it's another to say that women should lie about their age. HA!