Would teenagers tell us as much about themselves in person as they tell the world in their social network profiles?
Jeremiah Owyang posted today about how Generation Y puts information about their whole life on social networks like Facebook. This is a well-published topic. He wrote about how they list information, ad nauseum, relative to:
- Their demographic profiles (age, gender, geo locale, etc.),
- Their psychographics (their likes, dislikes, hates, loves, etc.),
- Their technographics (how they use technology); and
- Their relationship network (who’s doing what with whom and how they’d like to get in on that).
We’ve all seen these extensive profiles on various social networks. If I’m too presumptive, and you haven’t seen them, sign up for Facebook or My Space and have a gander. In the course of my work, when I peruse these profiles I wonder if many of them are just ego-trips. Do the posters really need to disgorge the complete, painful minutiae of their angst-ridden teenage lives? Are they only about Facebook-to-Facebook discourse? If their tender teenage emotional id compels them to do so, would these Gen Y members be as forthcoming in real life, interpersonal, face-to-face interaction?
Sadly, I think not.
The social network, seemingly, offers a psychologically “safe” environment, one where the disapproval of facial expression and other body language does not impede the unloading of a personal life history, complete with its successes and failures, summoning readers to share the burdens or the happiness of the writer, and in the process elevating the writer’s own self-image to that of part of something larger than their own seemingly isolated existence. I don’t mean to go all Jean-Paul Sartre on you, but this is an issue that concerns me as a social media analyst. I’d really like to know.
Comments?
Maybe, maybe not. In fact, it’s been observed that there’s often an inverse correlation with “amount of data/friends/participation in Facebook/MySpace” (MySpace is one word, btw) and “coolness in real life”. Ironically, those who have few friends/photos/preferences can be thought of as cooler by their lack of participation in social networks!
For sure, much of this seems unnecessary. Is it, though?
The problem of Identity on the Internet is one that I personally find very interesting. “Virtual Identity” as it’s been called takes many forms–Facebook/Myspace, Flickr, World of Warcraft/Second Life, and even LinkedIn (in which you participate!) It’s really a question of how one wants to present themselves to others. If I think listing 50 or so musical groups that I like will convey my tastes better to someone who may never meet me, I’m going to do it.
As you indicated, it’s notoriously difficult to pick up on subtlety through text alone. We (Gen Y) realize this and are using the provided avenues to present ourselves as we would like to.
So, your question: Are Gen Y-ers this forthcoming in person? Probably not all of them, but only because they think you don’t appreciate them. If you begin talking to one and demonstrate some knowledge of similar musicians (to use the same metaphor), it’s likely that the two of you could discuss this topic for hours.
Especially with an iPhone, so you could listen to samples of the bands on YouTube.
Alex