PROFILE ME? PROFILE YOURSELF

In this era of digital expansion, everyone has some kind of presence online.  This presence is often represented with a profile and/or avatar.

In my history of presence on the virtual web, I first began representing myself with a Xanga.  I was in 7th grade, and Xangas were all the blog rage for pre-teeny boppers such as myself.  It flashed with multicolored lights and music and mused about my most recent boy interests or what was pissing me off at the moment (lyk, omg, mom.)

From here evolved a knowledge of basic HTML codes used for decoration of websites.  The hottest thing to spring up after Xanga was Livejournal.  I just never got into it; it was not customizable enough for me.  But then, AHA! MYSPACE.

Myspace was the tremor giving way to the true social networking explosion: Facebook.  Myspace was cool for a few years when the general user range was high school students, but was eventually seen as a passing fad.  I was a massive scenester in the age of Myspace, and therefore rabidly accumulated "friends" as a status symbol.  By the age of 16, I no longer found an interest in showing my worth by digital friendships accomplished by the push of a button.

Once Facebook rose to the scene, initially touted as a college-only type of network, everyone joined.  My mother, grandmother, little cousins, and family pets are on Facebook.  Facebook has become the digital representation of physical self.

I have evolved my own Facebook into a means of platform and marketing.  I use it not only for connecting with friends and family members and planning events, but also to offer insights to my thoughts, be them funny, poetic, or to-the-point.

Facebook revolutionized the internet as a connection tool.  Creating an addictive need for connection means everyone spends even MORE time on the internet, linking and browsing pages often connected to one root source:  The Almighty Facebook.

In many ways, this could be seen as the beginning of the end.  When our world finally shifts to being entirely computer based, what happens to our physical self?  Does it deteriorate into disuse, oozing from our waistbands and decaying in our minds?  I think that's up to the individual.

What about you?