ExposedNYC

I’ve recently become a full-blown Facebook user. I had a profile before, but had never uploaded a picture, filled out any information, and joined purely because a friend invited me to see some photos.

My inspiration for the change of heart? I was invited to Buddy’s birthday party- where I met the adorable Non-threatening Bouncer- through Facebook and Buddy suggested that I find his profile and send him a message the following day. I did, and received an instantaneous response thanking me for finding him, along with a reference to one of our conversations the night before.

God, I love the non-threatening middle ground of social networking. If I had asked Buddy for his phone number and called it could have easily been misconstrued as being too forward, but cyber stalking has become an acceptable means of communication for our generation. It’s like asking a friend to set you up but cutting out the middleman.

But it has its downsides-

As a notorious pedestal builder, one glance at his interests and background had me planning our monogrammed towels and burial plots. On paper (or computer plasma) he’s everything I could want, but you have to be careful about judging a person by their cover story.

And then, as I began to add pictures and details to my own account, I found myself swaying answers and photo inclusion based on my imagination of his reaction. I was building the picture of me that I want the world to see, but not necessarily an accurate representation of my personality.

I didn’t lie. I just found myself searching for my most intellectual favorite books and listing music with any sort of credibility. I was supposed to be telling my friends who I was and here I was trying to have a virtual first-date conversation.

Once I caught myself, I threw in a slightly less flattering photo of a favorite moment and took my favorite songs straight out of my iTunes playlist. I don’t want my About Me to be all about anyone else.

Share This