This essay examines how Facebook has fundamentally altered the way people communicate, form identities, and maintain relationships. Drawing on perspectives from Robin Marantz Henig's concept of "emerging adulthood," Sherry Turkle's critique of technology-mediated relationships, Larry Gross's analysis of online queer communities, and Henry Jenkins's theory of cultural convergence, the paper argues that Facebook has created new categories of human relationships and new stages of psychosocial development. The essay also considers how both individuals and corporations use Facebook for identity and brand construction, how the platform simultaneously encourages and restricts social inclusion, and how it functions as a medium for viral cultural production.
"Clicking to like" and "friending" are now part of common vernacular, due to Facebook. The social media platform has unmistakably transformed the way people use the Internet. Facebook members read about daily current events in their "news feed" rather than by visiting the websites of The New York Times. Users read articles posted by friends, who re-posted them from other friends. Facebook has even made regular email seem almost obsolete when it comes to socializing. Although it has not gone the way of snail mail, traditional email is now much less important compared with Facebook messaging.
Communication and the development of friendships take place within the virtual playground of Facebook. Facebook has, in fact, changed the way people view the state and practice of friendship. A "friend" is not necessarily someone we see in real life anymore; it is a person who "likes" our posts and photos on Facebook. Some Facebook friends are "real" friends, in the sense that the companions still meet in real life. Many Facebook friends serve a different function, however, revealing that there are now new categories of human relationships. These new categories of relationship exist primarily because of social media. They parallel the new stages of psychosocial identity development that Henig posits in "What is it about 20-Somethings?" Facebook has fundamentally and irreversibly changed the way people communicate, because it alters the traditional patterns of psychosocial development and identity construction.
Facebook has become an indispensable application for many people, to the point where almost a third of all users check their Facebook before getting out of bed ("Facebook Statistics, Stats and Facts for 2011"). Facebook has therefore altered the most basic ways people live and the rudimentary aspects of personal lifestyle. Checking Facebook from under the covers is one emblem of the profound impact of social media on personal life and interpersonal relationships. Social media has also carved out new ways for young people to develop personal identities. Although Facebook is not without its own normative culture, many people can find a unique niche in the virtual world of social media that does not exist in the brick-and-mortar universe. For example, Larry Gross notes that Facebook has created a "Queer Global Village" (129). The real world in San Francisco might offer a Queer Village, but most places around the world exhibit forms of homophobia that are detrimental to the social and psychological health of youth. For many, "the Internet is a godsend and untold thousands are using computer networks to declare their homosexuality, meet and seek support from other gay youths" (Gross 129).
It is relatively easy for a person to manage their self-image and identity construction on Facebook. This does not mean that people become someone they are not, but it does mean that Facebook encourages a kind of brand identity management, in the way a company might manage its key product lines. Social media has changed the way people express themselves both online and in person. A Facebook page is like one's car, clothing, or interior design: an expression of identity, lifestyle, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. The social media platform is integral to the identity formation and social development of young generations, including what Henig calls the stage of "emerging adulthood." Emerging adulthood may be a stage of psychosocial development that has not yet been fully recognized. Henig likens early adulthood to adolescence from a developmental psychology perspective. Just as the concept of adolescence is relatively new, the concept of emerging adulthood might one day be considered an integral and important stage of life.
The emerging adulthood stage of life is fostered by Facebook, but it also nurtures Facebook in return. Facebook and the individual are co-creators. The individual creates the Facebook universe by maintaining their page, posting pictures and links, and commenting on friends' posts and photos. Some users of Facebook are as narcissistic online as they are in real life, posting frequent photos of themselves preparing for a night out. Other users express their altruistic sides with pleas to donate to their favorite charity. No matter how a person crafts their online identity, Facebook enables and encourages that identity formation. Identity construction is one of the hallmarks of social media. The user can link their blog to Facebook, or their photo-sharing page, inviting the world to peer into their creative pursuits and personal interests.
The ability to create and maintain a public profile means that Facebook users "market" themselves, just as a company markets its products. How many "likes" a post receives functions like Facebook currency. Social media changes the nature of corporate communications as well as interpersonal communications. Companies can use Facebook as an instant feedback mechanism that replaces the need for focus groups. Users communicate with companies more directly than ever before, showing how the products they buy fit within certain demographic markers. Marketers know that branding is linked with identity, which is why it makes sense that individual identity construction takes place within the social media environment. Individuals and companies are accomplishing the same goals on Facebook — getting people to "like" them.
Facebook adds a dimension of control to identity construction, as individuals choose how much or how little others can see. The individual is in control of their own "brand." As Sherry Turkle points out in an interview with Meredith Melnick, new media also ensures that individuals control the methods by which they communicate. Having control over identity is parallel with having control over interpersonal relationships. Facebook literally allows a user to "friend" and "unfriend" at will in ways that were not possible in the pre-social-media era. Facebook is a game-changer for many relationship dynamics. In Turkle's words, new media can be detrimental to personal relationships because of the element of control: "Controlling relationships becomes a major theme in digital communication. And that's what sometimes makes us feel alone together — controlled relationships are not necessarily relationships in which you feel kinship" (Turkle, cited by Melnick).
For a person in their twenties or younger, this element of control is a boon — or even something taken for granted. The intimacy a person feels with an online friend can evoke the same types of emotions and feelings as a friend seen on a daily basis. Facebook allows its users to stay connected to their friends at all times and at will via the mobile application. Friendships and online connections also no longer depend on time or space. Facebook fits into the mobile lifestyles that have arisen out of choice or necessity. As Henig points out in "What is it about 20-Somethings?" "One-third of people in their 20s move to a new residence every year." A highly mobile lifestyle makes Facebook a necessity for maintaining friendships and familial ties. The global marketplace has made it so that individuals may be called upon to work in remote offices in locations around the world. Without Facebook, their ties with friends and family could wither.
"Mobile lifestyles make Facebook essential for maintaining ties"
"Facebook both limits and transcends social cliques"
"Facebook enables viral cultural production and collective identity"
You’re 64% through this paper. Sign up to read the remaining 3 sections.
Sign Up Now — Instant Access Already a member? Log inAlways verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.