Analyzing The Logs

When you look at someone’s “online life” via Facebook, Twitter, or other similar sites, do you ever notice that they are not quite the same person as they are in “real life”? Given that they are only sharing the things they are inclined to while online, it shouldn’t be surprising. If you literally followed someone around all the time, you would have a complete, unedited picture of his or her life (and possibly a restraining order). But if you follow them on Twitter, you will only get to see the parts that they feel like showing you. They have control over what their life looks like online. This makes another question come up: how different are those two lives?

For three weeks, I kept a log of three of my friends’ Facebook posts. For two of them, the things they posted seemed to fit very neatly into how I see them in real life. One of them fit so perfectly that it seemed that there were no differences between his offline and online persona. But then there was the third one, Calvin. He’s a very quiet person. He doesn’t talk very much, and he’s kind of shy. Even when we worked tech for a play together, we only had a few long conversations about non-tech stuff. But on Facebook, he posted more than either of the others, who were outgoing people. And what he posted was surprising as well.

The other two people I followed posted mainly jokes, or some little observation about the day. While Calvin certainly had some like that, he also posted a lot about politics. For example: “I LOVE THE GOVERNMENT! (ACTA is worse than SOPA) EVERYTHING IS GREAT IN AMERICA! (please educate yourselves) IM SO GLAD WE ELECTED THESE GREAT LEADERS! (this could destroy the Internet globally) I HAVE NO COMPLAINTS! (dont buy their bullscheiße!) LOVE YOUR COUNTRY!” He has posted things like this in the past, and I would also like to point out that it is also original (not one of those “copy this into your status to raise awareness” things that pop up ever now and then). On the same day that he posted this, what did the other two people I followed have to say? “Why is it 60 degrees?” one asked. The other posted the somewhat overdramatic threat “I’m not a killer but don’t push me” and later a picture of herself cross-eyed with her face scrunched up, titled “i [sic] look SO GOOD when i [sic] study.” There’s a pretty big difference between them.

Of course, not everything he posts is political. He also posts about music a lot, too. I knew that he liked music before hand, but I didn’t know he liked it as much as he does. He also posts jokes, though they are often more politically (and sometimes religiously) slanted than the others’.

So, are people different online than offline? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. And there are also levels to it. Not everyone is as night and day as Calvin. But it is interesting to see someone who has such a large difference between their two lives. Most likely the only real difference is that online he lacks the shyness he has offline, and that he really is the same in both lives, but only fully expresses himself in one of them.