I love all things related to social media. From a professional stand point, I enjoy learning about how companies are using social networks to engage and learn about their customers. It’s not all about the sales transaction and pushing marketing campaigns down people’s throat; it’s more about building a relationship, growing a community, and establishing a voice of the brand.
From a personal standpoint, it’s a bit different. Still fascinating, but …well, just different. Lots of people know about Instagram, a mobile social app that allows you to snap photos on your phone and apply filters to make them look vintage or more interesting. Similar to how Instagram applies filters on photos, Facebook applies filters on our lives.
For example, here are the things I do throughout the week: Eat, work, watch TV, spend time with my husband and the kids, pray, cook, clean, and poop. Then, here’s what I posted on my Facebook timeline over the last few weeks: Food, Arielle, Zavier, Arielle, Food, Channing Tatum, Zavier, Food, Food, Food. In short, happy kids and I like to eat. Hmm…that’s just bits of me, but that certainly does not define me. My friends and family who talk to me regularly know that I’m focused on my career and extremely overwhelmed when it comes to balancing work/parenting/home. Yup, that sounds more like me.
What about the people who creep on my timeline and only see me through my Facebook filter? Do they think I’ve thrown my career to the curb because they are constantly bombarded with photos of my children? The immediate response would be to think, “Why should you care about what other people think of you based on Facebook?” but more and more often, I’m seeing strains on relationships and drama due to what so and so posted on Facebook. Sounds ridiculous, but it’s true.
People make assumptions about others based on how they share aspects of their lives through their Facebook filters. Remember the old saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover”? Same should go for people: “Don’t judge a person by their Facebook timeline.” Social media was made to share and connect with others, but it’s turning into much more than that and it’s actually quite ugly. I have seen some nasty arguments over Facebook out there in front of family and friends to see all the ugliness go down. It’s as if people forgot how to communicate with decency and respect as human beings.
Just my observations. So to sum up my ramblings:
- There’s much more to a person than what is actually displayed on their Facebook timeline. Stop judging.
- The solution to all Facebook drama would be to stop using it as a filter and actually talk to that person face-to-face or on the phone to get the full perspective. Remember the call function on your smart phone? You know, that one feature that was there before the Facebook app and text messaging? Use it.
- Facebook drama is whack, yo. Go tell your momma.
BAM!
…and I’m done. Thanks for listening.
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