Week8: Social media and Interpersonal communication

image source: http://ndesign-studio.com/blog/released-a-free-vector-social-media-icon-set

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.  

image source: http://replicatedtypo.com/animal-cognition-consciousness-i-mirror-self-recognition/4438.html

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.