So, Who Are You Again?

When you add a friend to a social media site you realize that this person is much different than you expected. Well, maybe it's because that friend isn't the same person online.

A recent blog posted on Mashable claims that when a person uses various social media sites such as Facebook or LinkedIn personalities tend to become tailored to that Web site. From personal experience I agree to an extent. My personality on Facebook and LinkedIn are totally different. Yet, that doesn't mean that I am a different person because of this. It just means I express my interests differently depending on which site I'm using. When on Facebook I express my personal interests to my friends and when on LinkedIn I express my professional interests to potential employers just like every other user using these sites. So yes, our personalities do change but they do change in every day life too depending on who you are around. So why does the article claim market researchers need to do extensive research on which social media outlets to use when targeting a certain market?

The blog also says that marketers aren't sure which medium to use when marketing a product to certain groups. Well, they are people too aren't they? They need to think about which medium they would use when expressing certain interests. Is the product more for professional settings, are there special interests groups on Facebook about the product or service, or would you think Twitter would be better to reach a larger market?

So basically, I think that you cannot say that this generation has multiple personalities due to the increased number of social media sites. We have always had multiple personalities in every day life situations. The way we talk to a stranger at the grocery is going to be different than when we're talking to our best friend. People change. It's human nature. We are the only ones who truly know ourself. Everyone else only gets a third of our story.