Through my personal experience with social media, it is a great platform to use for connecting with friends, others whom you may have just met or past friends you are reconnecting with. In general, Facebook and Twitter are public forums that allow an individual little to no privacy when interacting with friends and followers. The many features of Facebook allow you to keep some information private between you and one person by using personal messages or direct messages on twitter. Facebook and other social media do not serve much purpose for personal privacy because anything you type and publish goes to one or more people. With that being said, I have mainly used Facebook for sharing ideas with other people; inviting both support and criticism from those on my friends list. When making a post I am always aware that anyone has the ability to see what I have written and that even if deleted, it still exists somewhere. I release more private information through my personal messages were I connect on a deeper level and usually with someone whom I have developed a level of trust with.
The way I use my social media relates well with the article "The Flight From Conversation" since I primarily send and receive private messages from close friends on Facebook. I definitely struggle by missing out on some face to face interaction in favour of sending a message or two on Facebook. I do not find much entertainment or fulfillment from role playing and creating new identities online rather I present an image that is close to how I present to close friends and family yet appropriate for the average person to see. The image I present is normally an image I wish to fulfill in my every day life so it is in a way a goal that I can live up to when I personally interact with people that have read information about who I am on social media. In the same way that who I am or who I wish to be affects my presence on Facebook, the use of Facebook and other social media affect the way I behave. The connected feeling that Facebook provides leaves me at times feeling slightly paranoid or anxious when no one is around and there is no access to social media it is almost as addictive as a drug.
Although connecting with others provides great comfort, it takes away from one's personal identity because we are always posting for someone to read and respond or waiting to see how someone responds and then shaping your responses from the direction the conversation has turned to. This implies that online identities are in large part formed by our interactions with others. The criteria that I use when making a public or private post is similar to a company putting out an advertisement; I figure out who my target audience is and then I write a post that will appeal to them, either something directly related to them or a topic that they are passionate about. I then consider my online identity at the time (it evolves over time) and make a post that both represents how I would like to be seen and that appeals to the intended person(s).
I admit that my online identity would be very different if I was not aware that I was under constant surveillance, I would feel more free to post pictures and words that may not be appropriate for certain people on my social media. The fact that everyone can have access to what is posted on social media takes away from the interaction that you can have with people face to face because although I may plan a target audience I always have to consider the whole audience; everyone.