Australian government defines
interpersonal communication as “the process of sending and receiving
information between two or more people” (2011 no.pg). Marshall explains that social media is making us more “conscious of how we present ourselves and how others perceive us”, and
“new reconstruction of how the self is reconstituted through the screens of
engagement and interactivity” (2010, p. 498-499). People seem to create another version of self
in social media. A survey has shown that
fifty-six percent of British Facebook users are concerned with making themselves
look as good as possible on their profile pages (News Limited Network 2012,
no.pg). So, some of Facebook users may
be trying to construct idealised version of self who is a little distinct from
the self in reality. They seem try to reduce
the dilemma between self in reality and its in ideal. We might be becoming more comfortable with being
judged as a good person by others, rather than judging ourselves by our own
eyes.
However, construction
of self in a better way could be very subjective, so there are some
problems. For instance, about 90 percent
of the participants admit that some topics should not be talked online and 70
percent are “uncomfortable about a friend’s post about them” (News Limited
Network 2012, no.pg). Also, a Facebook
user responded that his parents misperceived his private life from his
Facebook, they see him holding a beer cup, not working every weekend on essays (Trottier
2012 p. 324). The former issue may bring
damage to friendship and the latter may relate to exaggerated representation of
self. Social media encourages more free
speech and liberal society, but it may also require legitimacy or regulation.
References:
Australian government (2011), Interpersonal Communication, retrieved September 1 2012,
<http://jobaccess.gov.au/Advice/JobRequirement/Pages/Interpersonal_communicati.aspx>.
Marshall, P.D 2008, The Specular Economy, Society. Vol. 47.
News Limited Network (2012), Like generation prefer Facebook adoration over intelligence, retrieved 1 September 2012,
<http://www.news.com.au/news/like-generation-prefer-facebook-adoration-over-intelligence/story-fnejlrpu-1226452694346>.
Trottier, D 2012, 'Interpersonal Surveillance on Social Media.', Canadian Journal of Communication, vol. 37, no. 2, pp. 319-322, retrieved 1 September 2012, Communication & Mass Media Complete.
