Justin/ Poster

I thought Poster's discussion of virtual communitites was really interesting, especially because of its age. He talks about it at the dawn of its expansion, but still has the foresight to talk about the effect the Internet will have on the individual. It's funny to think about the way you are part of an online community. I wouldn't consider myself an obsessive Internet user. I visit maybe the same 4 or 5 sites every day at some point, whether to check my mail or to see what's going on with constantly updated sites that I'm interested in. But I do have a Facebook account, and it's really something to think about what that entails. In my case, I have a picture and a detailed profile. I also have 84 pictures of myself that any of my "friends" can look at. I didn't create my profile-- my friend made it for me. It was funny and completely fictional, so I have never thought to change it. I've also never put up a single picture of myself. All the pictures of me on the site were taken by other people at different times and I was "tagged" as being in them. So my account is linked to these pictures. I don't take it very seriously, and I don't feel that I have much to hide. I know who I am. But I also have several "friends" on the site that I've never even held a conversation with before. The site promotes a process of making friends that is sort of like collecting. Some people have thousands of friends that they've never even met. Anyway, the people that I'm friends with can look at my profile and my pictures, and it would probably seem like enough evidence to make a judgment on what kind of person I am. But that view is probably 10 times different than the view of me they'd get in a personal encounter.
There is an illusion of everybody getting to know everybody without ever really getting to know anybody. People can be as bold as or timid as they want to be on the Internet. I think it's an interesting dynamic because there is a potential for people to change who they are based on the relationship they've developed with their computer. It will be interesting to see more of the long term societal effects of Internet relationships and personas.