Digital essay 1: Why do I Facebook so much

When I first encountered Facebook in early 2008, it was still not THE media platform among my circle of friends. Blogs, Microsoft messenger (very nostalgic, I know) and Myspace were popular, and Facebook was a sprouting seedling. As time passed by, I realized how convenient Facebook was compared to others. Facebook basically was a collage of uploads from various friends nicely laid out on a single newsfeed. I began to abandon other social medias (sorry Microsoft messenger), and heavily indulged myself into Facebook since mid-2008.

I went to local public middle school and high school in Singapore, as a Korean. During those 9 years in Singapore, Facebook was nothing more than a convenient Internet tool to check out hot freshmen, make fun of friends, share pictures of myself doing bizarre things and let my friends in Korea know that I was alive and doing fine in Singapore. To be honest, I frequented Twitter more to catch hidden messages my ex-girlfriends were crafting in their tweets. Things changed drastically as soon as I left Singapore to do 2 years of mandatory military service in Korea. Right before boarding the flight home, feeling extremely sentimental, I uploaded a long Facebook post on how I will always remember Singapore as my second home and never forget my friends bla bla bla. That post generated the most likes in my 5-years of Facebook back then. (I was sad and happy at the same time, psychopathic much?) Why did I upload it on Facebook, not Twitter? I knew how I was connected with close friends only in Twitter, but teachers, older people, family friends, and many other passersby on Facebook. I began to treat Facebook like my “official” digital platform unlike Twitter and Instagram, and such perception solidified as my relatives and not-close friends in Korea started asking personal, sarcastic questions about some of my Facebook posts.

Keeping in touch with my contacts in Korea and Singapore via direct communication tools such as email and text message was too much of a hustle for a newbie, private-ranked soldier in army. Facebook was a one-shot solution; one upload and all my connections were viewing it. I simply had to make an occasional update that I was doing well and fine in the military (of course the veterans knew I was not). My Facebook posts became more controlled, sophisticated and managed as my connections expanded globally. I became friends with numerous military officers, businessmen, working adults around the world; older generations who were rather new to Facebook. As Zadie Smith argued that “Connection is the goal. The quality of that connection, the quality of the information that passes through it, the quality of the relationship that connection permits—none of this is important.”, I simply wanted to maintain connection via Facebook. Nevertheless, I did not want them to look at the picture of me drunk and blacked-out at the CNN headquarter nor a video of me mimicking the #Saltbae on my Instagram account.

I wanted to present myself as an ambitious, enthusiastic, law-abiding young man who always keeps his cool to my Facebook connections. Only the selected close friends are allowed to access my private Instagram account to get overwhelmed by the another side of Koby. Myria Georgiou threw a question, "whether individuals have control over their own identities and if identities represent a global reflexive project, one might need to consider whether media power and control are directly involved in producing identity hierarchies" in her essay, Identity. I created an identify hierarchy of myself on Facebook in the past 9 years. From an immature, fat, awkward grade 8 kid who proudly posts C-graded mathematics homework to a mature, fit (less fat actually), affable college student who poses himself as sales intern in Hong Kong with philosopher-like caption; my Facebook page displays the milestone of the past 9 years. The Koby Han on Facebook (please do not search, I am lame) clearly climbed up the identity and social hierarchies across the years and that person has clearly been manipulating his perception as he wished. Now when I meet my Facebook friends in real life, I share with them the unreleased tales, pictures and videos of me which are not found on Facebook. The well-manipulated perfect “Koby Han” only exists on Facebook and I honestly enjoy getting closer to my Facebook friends via sharing the imperfect and real side of me. Now that I have a LinkedIn account too, I have two social media accounts to professionally manage.

As a Korean international student who grew up in Korea, Singapore, Belgium and now 201 Dowman Dr Atlanta GA 30322, I find it harder to keep up with latest news and trend of each country. News and updates on the United States from Wallstreet journal and Emory Wheel alone are already overwhelming; there is simply no time to follow up on Korea, Singapore and Belgium for a double-major Emory junior who is bombarded with assignments, recruiting deadlines, frat parties and dates. While exploring to satisfy my quench for updates in my homes, Facebook came in handy. Simply following various popular figures, humor page, news medias of Korea, Singapore and Belgium on Facebook not only provided me with local news updates, latest jokes and trends, but also exposed me to thoughts of local people. Major Facebook posts come with thousands of comments and in there I can learn the general consensus and differing thoughts people hold. While doing so, I am able to discover the latest popular emoji, slang, jokes used in Korea, Singapore and Belgium. I hardly fall behind in conversations with friends in these countries because of the Facebook. Indeed, there is risk of fake news, myopic range and bias. Facebook is central in the idea of new media; visual proof is always provided and posts are hyperlinked to external websites to substantiate credibility. I learnt to filter untrustworthy, fake news on Facebook, simply by referring to the source. I carefully follow both right and left-winged news media to obtain more politically-objective updates and thoughts on various local issues.

My younger-self wanted attention and splendid reputation from Facebook connections. My current-self is greedy; now he always keeps in touch with people around the world, carefully maintains his façade and enthusiastically updates himself with latest jokes from multiple countries. Nonetheless, I now enjoy scrolling through memes, especially sarcastic ones, on Facebook, especially during lectures where laptops are allowed.