Module 5 Reflection
Anna Kehl
LDCM-4320
M. Read
8/9/2017
After reviewing the materials for this week's module, I was left thinking a lot about the differences in one's online personality and their in-person personality. After reading the information in Dr. Read's Prezi about how people often bolster their online dating profiles and hearing criticism about social media outlets being a place to broadcast only the positive things in your life, it's been reaffirming to me about my personal rules for social media.
These are the rules that work for me, I'm not saying that anyone else needs to adopt them...
1.) I'm only friends online with people that I'm actually friends with in person.
By "actually friends with", I mean, really friends with! For example, I'm not friends, in real life or online, with my brother's wifes' cousin that I met at their wedding and had a great time hanging out with for one night. She requested to be my friend, but I declined her. Some may be thinking, "What? You declined her? How rude!" No. It's not rude. She doesn't even care. I haven't asked her, but I bet if I did, she wouldn't even realize that I declined her! And if she did care, oh well. She shouldn't.
2.) No "friending" anyone at work.
I might actually be friends with someone from work, but I'm not interested in being Facebook friends with them. Work is for work. Facebook is for private. (LinkedIn is for work, and I support that use) I don't have anything to hide, but people judge.
According to an article by Justin Thomas who writes for The National, "we review social media profiles, rapidly forming judgements and opinions about their owners. From the profile picture to the number of followers the user had, a thousand little clues are automatically processed to provide us with an instantaneous, and very often inaccurate, first impression."
I have no control over what someone will think if I "like" something. I have no control over what someone will think if I "follow" a certain politician. I admit to the fact that I have no control over what I think about what other people post! I don't even want to know what Jenny from Accounting "likes" on Facebook, because I'm afraid of the way it will change the way I think about her!
What I do have some control over is who I expose myself to on social media, who I friend, who's in my network. I feel safer from judgement when the people in my online social network are only my true, real friends that I do not have to have a working relationship with. I have had to explain to coworkers that I will not be their Facebook friend, and yes, it's gotten awkward. Usually when I explain to them that I find being friends in real life much more valuable, they get over it.
3.) Routinely go though and "unfriend" people.
Haven't talked to this person in a while, unfriend. Getting annoyed with what this person keeps posting = unfriend. Feel like this person is not using appropriate netiquette when responding to comments = unfriend. So-and-so invited me for the third time to play Candy Crush = unfriend. I have no shame about it.
I had no idea until researching for this assignment, but according to the article, "To Friend or Unfriend", by Dave Roos, my rule of unfriending is actually a healthy behavior. The article sites four studies that researched "ways in which an individual's attachment style affected not only the strength of their social network, but how they managed and maintained that network through acquiring new friends and dropping old ones."
Attachment style or attachment theory is "the way we think, feel and behave in our close relationships" (Roos). Those who were found to have an insecure attachment style measured high in categories like "attachment anxiety" and "attachment avoidance". The research concluded that those who have a high number of friends and never unfriend anyone correlates to an insecure attachment style.
What are your personal rules for using social media? Do you use it purely for personal relationships or do you use it for work too? Do you separate the apps you use for work or personal? For example, Facebook for personal, LinkedIn for work? How true to your real personality do you think your social media profiles are? Do you share the good and the bad on social media? What an interesting age we live in!
Works Cited:
Thomas, Justin. "Who Do You Think I Am? Chances Are You've Already Made Up Your Mind." The National. July 23 2017. https://www.thenational.ae/opinion/who-do-you-think-i-am-chances-are-you-ve-already-made-up-your-mind-1.613403
Roos, David. "To Friend or Unfriend? How Your Relationship Style Plays Out In Social Networks." Sekker. July 24, 2017. https://www.seeker.com/culture/behavior/to-friend-or-unfriend-how-your-relationship-style-plays-out-in-social-networks
Anna Kehl
LDCM-4320
M. Read
8/9/2017
After reviewing the materials for this week's module, I was left thinking a lot about the differences in one's online personality and their in-person personality. After reading the information in Dr. Read's Prezi about how people often bolster their online dating profiles and hearing criticism about social media outlets being a place to broadcast only the positive things in your life, it's been reaffirming to me about my personal rules for social media.
These are the rules that work for me, I'm not saying that anyone else needs to adopt them...
1.) I'm only friends online with people that I'm actually friends with in person.
By "actually friends with", I mean, really friends with! For example, I'm not friends, in real life or online, with my brother's wifes' cousin that I met at their wedding and had a great time hanging out with for one night. She requested to be my friend, but I declined her. Some may be thinking, "What? You declined her? How rude!" No. It's not rude. She doesn't even care. I haven't asked her, but I bet if I did, she wouldn't even realize that I declined her! And if she did care, oh well. She shouldn't.
2.) No "friending" anyone at work.
I might actually be friends with someone from work, but I'm not interested in being Facebook friends with them. Work is for work. Facebook is for private. (LinkedIn is for work, and I support that use) I don't have anything to hide, but people judge.
According to an article by Justin Thomas who writes for The National, "we review social media profiles, rapidly forming judgements and opinions about their owners. From the profile picture to the number of followers the user had, a thousand little clues are automatically processed to provide us with an instantaneous, and very often inaccurate, first impression."
I have no control over what someone will think if I "like" something. I have no control over what someone will think if I "follow" a certain politician. I admit to the fact that I have no control over what I think about what other people post! I don't even want to know what Jenny from Accounting "likes" on Facebook, because I'm afraid of the way it will change the way I think about her!
What I do have some control over is who I expose myself to on social media, who I friend, who's in my network. I feel safer from judgement when the people in my online social network are only my true, real friends that I do not have to have a working relationship with. I have had to explain to coworkers that I will not be their Facebook friend, and yes, it's gotten awkward. Usually when I explain to them that I find being friends in real life much more valuable, they get over it.
3.) Routinely go though and "unfriend" people.
Haven't talked to this person in a while, unfriend. Getting annoyed with what this person keeps posting = unfriend. Feel like this person is not using appropriate netiquette when responding to comments = unfriend. So-and-so invited me for the third time to play Candy Crush = unfriend. I have no shame about it.
I had no idea until researching for this assignment, but according to the article, "To Friend or Unfriend", by Dave Roos, my rule of unfriending is actually a healthy behavior. The article sites four studies that researched "ways in which an individual's attachment style affected not only the strength of their social network, but how they managed and maintained that network through acquiring new friends and dropping old ones."
Attachment style or attachment theory is "the way we think, feel and behave in our close relationships" (Roos). Those who were found to have an insecure attachment style measured high in categories like "attachment anxiety" and "attachment avoidance". The research concluded that those who have a high number of friends and never unfriend anyone correlates to an insecure attachment style.
What are your personal rules for using social media? Do you use it purely for personal relationships or do you use it for work too? Do you separate the apps you use for work or personal? For example, Facebook for personal, LinkedIn for work? How true to your real personality do you think your social media profiles are? Do you share the good and the bad on social media? What an interesting age we live in!
Works Cited:
Thomas, Justin. "Who Do You Think I Am? Chances Are You've Already Made Up Your Mind." The National. July 23 2017. https://www.thenational.ae/opinion/who-do-you-think-i-am-chances-are-you-ve-already-made-up-your-mind-1.613403
Roos, David. "To Friend or Unfriend? How Your Relationship Style Plays Out In Social Networks." Sekker. July 24, 2017. https://www.seeker.com/culture/behavior/to-friend-or-unfriend-how-your-relationship-style-plays-out-in-social-networks
Anna, thank you for sharing your rules for social media. I wouldn't say that I have particular rules, but that is something I will think about. I don't separate work friends from other friends. If someone is my friend, I am okay for them to know what's going on in my personal life. I feel that my online persona fits who I really am. However, I probably do share more positive than negative things from my life. I agree that we do live in an interesting world, and some of the things we have to consider in today's world are so different than generations before us. The future with technology will be interesting.
ResponderBorrarAnna, I enjoyed your rules for social media. I actually avoid it entirely. I have seem to many people lose their job or their future job for the direction their posts have taken. I have a facebook page for family and that's it , they know not to post anything I will have to remove. It does limit my social media footprint but I have rules that I have asked my friends and family to respect.
ResponderBorrarGreat stuff Anna, I too believe that we must follow some type of format when communicating on social media sites, mostly in the business world. Though I have found that if I do not word myself correctly even with people I know, that it can lead to a misunderstanding among friends. I have also learned that even if you do not know someone that well and you think that it is okay to speak in slang or acronyms that it can also come back and bite you. I find that it is hard to assume and hard not too. So to playit safe, one must always be professional when on social media sites.
ResponderBorrar