With the emergence of social media over the past 5 years your image now goes a lot further than how you carry yourself in person. Your whole life now is pretty much on the internet and there is more information freely available about you now than ever. My question is what is more important? Your image on social media or your image in person? Obviously a combination of the two is what is ideal but when looking at the extremes for both it is interesting to think about what affects you more. If you met a person at a bar that seemed incredibly kind that you felt like could be boyfriend/girlfriend material but then looked at their Facebook and saw that they were a party animal and a “free spirit” would you still want to date that person? Even though in person you felt like they were a great person the image they created for themselves online may lead you to think otherwise. Lets look at the opposite situation where you meet a person who seems like a jerk but add them on Facebook anyways to pad your friends count. Then looking through their photos they look like such a great person as they have a million pictures of themselves volunteering at soup kitchens and helping little children. Does that person all of a sudden get a reconsideration just because of their online image?
It is sad these days how much importance we put into our social media image. Going Facebook “official” is almost more important than actually asking a person out. Innovation is always necessary and there is no doubt that social media has done a lot of great things for mankind. Being connected to the world is a great feeling and I have been able to reach out to relatives that I would have never been able to have communicate with had social media not existed. Social media also allows me to be more productive as I have my whole network available to me right on one site. However, I use social media strictly as a tool and I do not let it absorb my life. I feel like we all need to stop taking social media so damn seriously. Get off of Facebook chat and meet up with a person. Nothing will ever trump the impact left with face to face interaction and the generations that are rising right now may not have the proper social skills to be able to handle face to face conversations. I feel like the coming generations will be interacting with their friends more through social media than they actually will in person. The problem that arises with this is the phenomenon of online courage and the inability to handle conflict in person. Online you have the safety of being behind a screen and not having to face any immediate repercussions for arguing with someone. You can say whatever you want and people tend to act a lot tougher than they actually are when online. You also have as much time as you want to respond to a message or do not have to respond at all where as in person you do not have this luxury and you have to be able to think on your feet. I feel like kids simply are not going to learn very important social cues and be able to pick up on body language because of the emergence of social media.
Is a person less attractive if they are not photogenic? Is a person less appealing if their Facebook profile was not what you were expecting even if they were what you want in person? Human interaction is slowly dying as the internet is evolving and I think soon enough your image online will be more important than how you carry yourself in real life. The question I have to raise is would Facebook prevent you from getting into a serious relationship with someone if their social image could be detrimental to your social image?