Analysis

Profile pictures are the iconic way to highlight a part of someone for others to see. Therefore, people put filters and edits on them to make them look as good as possible. They choose particular places, events, or people who mean a lot to them to make their profile picture have as much meaning as possible. Or, as part of their privacy, they choose a picture that doesn't look like them and upload that.

Filters in and of themselves are a meme in a way. They are a readily available idea that has pervaded into the culture of this type of media. Some of my friends don't upload photos unless they put filters over them. Memes don't have to be explicit, so I would view filters as part of that class of spreadable media. After Instagram was created, filters have appeared everywhere.

I wanted to bring back the idea of copyright. Who do these photos belong to? Am I allowed to use them? McLuhan touched on this in our first reading, and the thought passed through my mind while I was collecting photos. Does Facebook own the photos, or do my friends own the photos? (You own all your photos, by the way) Should I have asked? They were also extremely easy to obtain, so I would go as far as to say profile pictures are also a spreadable media. 

Privacy is also related to copyright. Am I allowed to just take their profile pictures? How much should a person show about themselves? Is there a limit? I'm not sure if these questions will ever be answered, but we can see what changes will occur over the next few years. But despite these questions, I do feel as though I know how my friends want others to see them better now.