Facebook and Roles

Last time I explained how you adopt roles based upon purchases at places like Amazon or Netflix. People who bought (or rented) Product A also liked Product B. Next let's consider how your role becomes solidified through use of a social interaction technology such as Facebook.

Consider some of the actions you perform on Facebook. You friend people. You join groups. You use applications such as quizzes or play games such as Farmtown. And you post bits of news about yourself and read bits of news that others have posted. Each of these activities refines the role you play as yourself.

First of all, you select friends based on some similarity of interest. Some have friends only from work. Others exclude friend from work. Some select friends that they know for real. Others only have virtual friends. Some people will accept friend requests from anyone while others are very choosy. The point is that you are defined to some extent by the company you keep online and the friends you select will begin to define you over time.

You join groups based upon your interests or based on the recommendation of friends. The groups will in turn affect the advertisements that you see, further reinforcing your evolving role. When you post information about your day "I had a great lunch at a new restaurant" you are suggesting possible activities for your friends. Note the similarity here between the Amazon claim "People who liked Product A also liked Product B" and "I liked Restaurant X so you might like Restaurant X." Postings, obviously, are not limited to restaurants. People post their experiences with books, movies, concerts, and all manner of activities.

This is not, of course, limited to Facebook. Your Twitter feeds or your virtual world avatars have a similar effect. Through mediated social interaction you negotiate and refine your role and the roles of other's around you. Next time, I will take this a step further with role play in virtual worlds and see how that impacts your evolving roles.