...like me she's uncomfortable...

There were several birthday greeting waiting for me today on my facebook wall, among them a message from a girl named Brin who says she misses me, that it's been too long since we've seen each other, and we have to have baklava again soon. Now, I am fairly certain I don't know this girl and I am absolutely certain we have never had baklava together. The reason I am certain of this is that I hate baklava. This isn't the first time she has messaged me though, with messages that you wouldn't send to a stranger, and she has been on my friends list for several months which naturally leaves me confused. Who does she think she is speaking to? Does she really think she knows me? Do I have a body and *name* double running around the city interacting with people who think it is me? I don't know what could account for all this.

I've been thinking about myspace a lot this week, and internet network platforms in general, including facebook. I've been thinking about the idea of "profiles" as they relate to these platforms and what they have come to represent, namely the concept of "identity creation" through technology. Something to consider: the internet profiles, the comments on myspace, the blogs, the facebook walls, our online albums - these are all things that are meant to represent us, and we would hope they would do so accurately. However, anyone visiting my wall right now would believe that Brin and I are friends, when we are not. They might look at my pictures on myspace and on facebook and think I am a well-dressed dancing queen stuck like glue to my whisky sours and rye & gingers (and let's face it, didn't I want people to think that? Why put up those pictures otherwise?) - based on those, the entries I write selectively, the info in my profile... based on all these no one would imagine I just spent three consecutive nights playing Dead or Alive on Xbox tournament style with my two best guy friends into the early morning, at which point my thumb hurt too much to continue.

These platforms are a tabula rasa of esteem and personal identity. What does it mean that we can create the image we portray to people in a cyber context, and what happens when the "cyber" you meets the "real" you? Do the personalities reconcile? Is it real or is it fantasy, and to what point is the situation healthy? This is just the surface; there are so many questions that emerge from this idea. This year's semiotics paper? Possibly.