Do you ever wonder what is behind the profile picture? The majority of what is broadcasted on social networking sites is a distorted version of reality. Or rather, it’s processed as such by the people we call friends, followers, connections and so on. We are all following an edited version of each other’s lives. Do you know the underlying issues your friends are dealing with via Facebook? Most of us do not. It’s easy to feel excluded from events involving friends just by browsing through Facebook photos and FourSquare check-ins.
Here is a prime example of how Facebook can lead to a skewed perception of reality for people.
I did some modeling for a couture dress boutique in Chicago. I modeled a few different wedding dresses and the pictures were used a lot more than I expected. They were in Chicago Magazine, Chicago Social, on this website and featured on Daily Candy in the spring of 2008. Before I met my current fiancé, I was dating someone for about 3 years, let’s call him X. X took it upon himself to post these pictures of me on his Facebook page. Immediately, people thought X and I had tied the knot, eloped! My mother was getting phone calls from the parents of my friends asking about my recent nuptials, my inbox was full from inquiring friends and X had to turn off his phone because it wouldn’t stop ringing the entire night. After that snafu, we decided it would be wise to take down the pictures or in the world of Facebook, get a divorce.
On October 29th, I will walk down the aisle for the first time but according to many distant Facebook friends, it will be my second.
