Statusbook

The title of this post is not very good. My primary reason for disliking it is that it sounds like the name of a cheap Facebook clone, tying to get in on the social networking business. My second reason is that ‘Statusbook’ is what I used to (jokingly) call the MacBook Pro, due to the number of people who seem to use Apple products as a status symbol. (An odd choice, given their popularity and wide uptake.) That said, in a way, that makes the title seem relevant, since the subject of this post is people’s use of Facebook as a way of broadcasting their status.

I dislike Facebook. In fact, there are a number of unpublished posts, waiting on this blog, all discussing my various reasons for not liking the website. But, whilst I can compose lengthy lists of things I don’t like about it, most of those reasons are ultimately the same reason: the vast majority of user content is ultimately an attempt at a status symbol, or showing something off.

Whether it’s a picture of someone’s possessions, a description of their day or ‘liking’ the page of a business they want to be associated with, the majority of activity is clearly intended to boast about something. Not-so-hidden messages range from “Look how good I am at this” and “Look at this nice thing I own” to “Look how popular I am” or “I’m sleeping with them.” It’s usually obvious, and (rather insultingly) often wrapped up in some sort of excuse for feeling the need to post about it: “Just dropped my £100 sunglasses lol im so clummsy?”[sic] This sort of interaction reminds me a little of my first week at university, where every Computer Science student spent their time telling everyone else how great they were. It’s not really a fun conversation to be involved in, and (perhaps I’m just speaking for myself here) doesn’t really give a very good impression (especially when it turns out to be untrue).

I realised before I started writing this that it would seem rather hypocritical to anyone who had observed my Facebook presence recently – my current ‘cover photo’ shows an array of displays on my desk showing one word of “Still (primarily) a PC user” per panel. What is essentially an inside joke could, to an outsider, be viewed as an attempt to show off the contents of my desk. I’d like to think that anyone viewing what I post on Facebook would understand the point (I frequently remove any ‘friends’ whom I don’t consider actual friends).

I’d like to point out that this post was written some time ago, and only updated and made public recently, so any assumptions that this is aimed at anyone in particular can be assumed unfounded.