A New Mask

I've always kept my emotions to myself when it comes to social media, both in shared content and profile picture. To be honest, it hasn't served me well socially. In this project, I will replace my emotionless profile picture with one of pure elation and joy to see if any of my friends react to the change. 

I'd like to see if the change is met with support, apathy, or even disapproval. This may tell me how changing one's outward personality is received.

Above is the profile picture I've used for nearly two years. Aside from the "Do not copy" watermark, I like everything about it. It's not a selfie, I'm not throwing out duck lips, and I can actually see my face. It does what it needs to without much fluff. In this way, it differs from nearly all of my friends' pictures. The same could be said about my own attitude. I've been reserved and quiet throughout my life in sharp contrast to many of the people around me. Consequently, I haven't had the greatest social life. 

I may be able to simulate a change in my own attitude by changing my profile picture. I don't particularly prefer my approach to life over others. I simply made a choice and stuck with it. I picked a mask and haven't took it off since. So I wanted to see what would happen if I swapped it out. 

I changed my profile picture to the one shown above and made a number of comments and statuses mimicking those I normally see. I looked as goofy and happy as possible while attempting to be more forward with my use of facebook. I received a rather mixed response.

I first observed a large number of likes from people I have barely talked to recently. That may have come from my change of face or from the fact that I haven't posted anything in two years.

As for comments my closer friends engaged in some jovial, if not clever, insults while others may have caught wind of what I was doing and left some sarcastic comments. What I'm more interested in are the comments in maroon, orange, and green. 

Maroon is the father of a friend from whom I'd grown distant in the past few years. He reacted positively.

Orange is an acquaintance who I would not have expected to hear from. Her response seems negative. 

Green is someone my age who I don't ever recall talking to. I hope he is joking. Otherwise, this is a very negative comment. 

On one of my statuses, I received another relatively large amount of likes as well as some comments. Black was "disturbed" by my change while gray and maroon found it funny. Notice how most of the conversation concerns only my profile picture. It is possible that there was enough surprise due to my picture that what I said did not matter.

So I had attempted to change how I was perceived by my friends on facebook by adopting a happier appearance in my profile picture and by being more forward. For the most part, my friends either thought I was joking or became unsettled by the change. From this project, I have gathered that, in response to drastic change in a person's appearance, people are likely to mock or reject it. Although I received a good deal of feedback, it was not the positive feedback I intended to incite. People expected the facade I've held up for years and did not react well to a new one. 

If I were to do this again with the same goal, I would benefit from a slower transition so as to not shock anyone as well as a more genuine picture that doesn't suggest I am joking.