Facebook's Design Trap

With about 134,000 Facebook users only in the United States, and the average American user spending over three hours per day on the social networking site (Facebook statistics here), it has permeated through all facets of the American, not to mention global, population. Therefore, there is not only a lot to be said about the goal behind it, connecting friends with friends and allowing them to share updates about their lives at any time, but also the structure and design of the site which allows this goal.

Although Facebook has frequently changed up the format of their site, causing much unease and frustration amongst its users, its most basic functions have remained the same. Users setup two-dimensional profiles for themselves, complete (yet perpetually incomplete) with a profile picture, birthday, career description, relationship status, and different interests. To this profile, users can then add statuses, upload pictures or videos, and share the posts of other groups or people. The next step is connecting with other users by “friending” them, which then allows every user to see the activity of their “friends” on their “News Feed” and either “like” or comment it.

Though many of these aspects of Facebook could be picked apart structurally, it is one of the most enticing and attractive features of Facebook, the ability for each user to create his or her own personal profile page, that I want to take a closer look at.

The Facebook Profile Page

Selectively choosing pictures and descriptors that paint the picture of themselves that they wish others to see. Structurally, Facebook has made this very easy, with simple drop-down menus for things like relationship status (which may be much more complicated that it would seem on the site) or upload options for profile picture (which could be of the actual person or of a leek, depending on the user’s whims and fancies). This structural choice to make users’ profiles boil down to their age, what they look like, who they are with, the things they like, and the things they say online is very intentional and has far-reaching effects. Because users are selective about what they publish about themselves, they are not only broadcasting a warped and incomplete image of themselves to the world, which people like the author of this Economist article would argue breeds nothing but unhealthy envy, but they are looking into a warped mirror of themselves, breeding narcissism and body image issues.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Facebook. I shamefully spend hours on it everyday, sucked in by the never-ending updates on my News Feed and the exchange of comments with friends. I also see benefit greatly from it, as I can keep in touch with long-distance friends and stay in the loop with the different extracurricular groups or classes I am in. However, I have also made a concerted effort to recognize the slippery and intentional design tactics Facebook has used to keep me hooked. And while the profile page allows us to connect with and learn about others, we have to realize that it occupies a space somewhere between the second dimension and unbounded imagination.