DIY Earring (and necklace) Holder How-to:

1) Find a wooden frame. Remove glass, cardboard, back, etc. [note: wood is best because it tolerates nails/staples, but you can use any frame if you think it through. The necklace part will be trickier that way, though.]

The back of the frame. Staples had to be extra close because of the stretch fabric.

2) Find enough lace to cover the back of the frame. I found some stretchy net lace stuff. Anything with holes will do.

3) Use a staple gun to staple the lace to the back of the frame. [If you chose a glass or metal frame or don't have a staple gun, use a sturdy craft glue and hold it together until fully dry.] Make sure to stretch the fabric tight – droopy lace doesn’t do the job.

4) Nail several nails (5-7 depending on how big the frame is) into the bottom at an angle so the necklaces will stay on.

5) Tie a ribbon around the picture frame hook and hang it up. Now organize your shit and admire what you’ve done.

SUPER EASY Crock Pot Chicken with black beans, corn, and salsa

Image by 'Run For Your Life' found on Food.com

4 -5 frozen boneless chicken breasts

1 can of black beans

1 can of corn

1 (15 ounce) jar of salsa, any kind

1/2 of an 8 ounce package of cream cheese (I used Neufchâtel cheese for less fat)

Facebook operates on a system of simple identifiers and “connections” between those labels and unique IDs. Yes, I understand the platform is incredibly robust and massive – just go with me on this one. According to Facebook’s Developer section,

At Facebook’s core is the social graph; people and the connections they have to everything they care about. The Graph API presents a simple, consistent view of the Facebook social graph, uniformly representing objects in the graph (e.g., people, photos, events, and pages) and the connections between them (e.g., friend relationships, shared content, and photo tags).

So, let’s break this down. Here is my unique ID:

{
   "id": "44403710",
   "name": "Lacy Mahone",
   "first_name": "Lacy",
   "last_name": "Mahone",
   "username": "lacymahone",
   "gender": "female",
   "locale": "en_US"
}

All IDs can be found at https://graph.facebook.com/[username_or_page_name] and are returned as JSON objects (JavaScript Object Notation). Facebook uses this format because it is a text format that is independent of any specific programming language that both humans and machines can read easily. Consider this the list of “identifiers” that Facebook will use in all of its “connection” equations.

All of the objects in the Facebook social graph are connected to each other via relationships. [...] We call those relationships connections in our API. You can examine the connections between objects using the URL structure https://graph.facebook.com/ID/CONNECTION_TYPE. The connections supported for people and pages include:

• Friends
• News feed
• Profile feed (Wall)
• Likes
• Movies
• Music
• Books
• Notes
• Permissions
• Photo Tags
• Photo Albums
• Video Tags
• Video Uploads
• Events
• Groups
• Checkins

Whoa… That adds up to a lot of data. A sample of what is returned when I pull up the graph of my music interests is below (the list is MUCH longer than this).

{
   "data": [
      {
         "name": "Sealion",
         "category": "Musician/band",
         "id": "190637787649621",
         "created_time": "2011-04-29T14:39:51+0000"
      },
      {
         "name": "Unearth Official",
         "category": "Musician/band",
         "id": "5813222730",
         "created_time": "2011-02-28T00:43:35+0000"
      },
      {
         "name": "Binary Sunrise",
         "category": "Musician/band",
         "id": "119658943109",
         "created_time": "2011-02-21T20:41:46+0000"
      },

So now we understand in a very simple way how Facebook compiles and organizes your information and how it relates to others. As you see above, Facebook knew that I "liked" Binary Sunrise on February 21, 2011 at 8:41 p.m. and they kept that information. There's a lot of frivolous information kept within the graph that you may not know or care about, as long as its safe from prying eyes. It is safe, right? Well, as long as YOU keep it that way...

Now that we're on that topic, let's talk a little about authorization. As is, the Graph allows you to access all public information about anyone or anything in text form. That's no big deal. To access more than public information, you need what Facebook calls an access token. Developers must add these to the front end of any apps people use on Facebook. Requesting an access token is what's happening when the popup shows up asking you whether you'd like to allow X Application access to X, Y, Z. In order to access X Application, you must allow access.

[pic - upload problems]

[pic - upload problems]

When anything additional is listed, the developers are requesting access to more than your publicly available information (this could be email address, news feed, notes, photos, ability to post to your wall when you're logged out, etc.). They can even be notified if you decide to de-authorize their app. You might be thinking "why in the WORLD would I ever allow that app access to anything?" Well, simply because you want what they offer - be it a game, airline miles, votes for your picture, anything really.

Here is an example Facebook gives in its Developer section of the kind of information an access token could give a developer. Bret's public graph information available at https://graph.facebook.com/btaylor looks like this:

{
   "id": "220439",
   "name": "Bret Taylor",
   "first_name": "Bret",
   "last_name": "Taylor",
   "link": "http://www.facebook.com/btaylor",
   "username": "btaylor",
   "gender": "male",
   "locale": "en_US"
}

Bret's graph information with an access token available at https://graph.facebook.com/btaylor?access_token=2227470867|2.GwwRBfgwxdwTgWQ8vCaOsg__.3600.1304496000.0-44403710|bl-gfDaiFqQ1rt7B7XtjotDPyI0 looks like this:

{
   "id": "220439",
   "name": "Bret Taylor",
   "first_name": "Bret",
   "last_name": "Taylor",
   "link": "http://www.facebook.com/btaylor",
   "username": "btaylor",
   "hometown": {
      "id": "108363292521622",
      "name": "Oakland, California"
   },
   "location": {
      "id": "109650795719651",
      "name": "Los Gatos, California"
   },
   "work": [
      {
         "employer": {
            "id": "20531316728",
            "name": "Facebook"
         },
         "position": {
            "id": "148305368513781",
            "name": "CTO"
         },
         "with": [
            {
               "id": "4",
               "name": "Mark Zuckerberg"
            },
            {
               "id": "1586010043",
               "name": "Zach Rait"
            }
         ],
         "start_date": "2009-08",
         "end_date": "0000-00",
         "projects": [
            {
               "id": "153823678006564",
               "name": "Open Graph",
               "with": [
                  {
                     "id": "4",
                     "name": "Mark Zuckerberg"
                  }
               ],
               "from": {
                  "id": "4",
                  "name": "Mark Zuckerberg"
               }
            }
         ]
      },
      {
         "employer": {
            "id": "99073561945",
            "name": "FriendFeed"
         },
         "location": {
            "id": "108212625870265",
            "name": "Mountain View, California"
         },
         "position": {
            "id": "116320241753504",
            "name": "Founder & CEO"
         },
         "with": [
            {
               "id": "581903346",
               "name": "Goutham Patnaik"
            },
            {
               "id": "15500414",
               "name": "Benjamin Golub"
            },
            {
               "id": "223020",
               "name": "Tudor Bosman"
            },
            {
               "id": "1214835",
               "name": "Dan Hsiao"
            },
            {
               "id": "836701",
               "name": "Casey Maloney Rosales Muller"
            },
            {
               "id": "4809535",
               "name": "Kevin Fox"
            },
            {
               "id": "500039935",
               "name": "Gary Burd"
            },
            {
               "id": "207830",
               "name": "James Norris"
            },
            {
               "id": "580246416",
               "name": "Sanjeev Singh"
            },
            {
               "id": "672745547",
               "name": "Paul Buchheit"
            }
         ],
         "start_date": "2007-10",
         "end_date": "2009-08"
      },
      {
         "employer": {
            "id": "86860316161",
            "name": "Benchmark Capital"
         },
         "location": {
            "id": "104048449631599",
            "name": "Menlo Park, California"
         },
         "position": {
            "id": "104098916294662",
            "name": "Entrepreneur In Residence"
         },
         "with": [
            {
               "id": "210560",
               "name": "Peter Fenton"
            },
            {
               "id": "207830",
               "name": "James Norris"
            }
         ],
         "start_date": "2007-06",
         "end_date": "2007-09"
      },
      {
         "employer": {
            "id": "104958162837",
            "name": "Google"
         },
         "position": {
            "id": "103146903077097",
            "name": "Group Product Manager"
         },
         "start_date": "2003-03",
         "end_date": "2007-06",
         "projects": [
            {
               "id": "162849873739882",
               "name": "Google Maps",
               "with": [
                  {
                     "id": "207830",
                     "name": "James Norris"
                  },
                  {
                     "id": "767560056",
                     "name": "Lars Eilstrup Rasmussen"
                  },
                  {
                     "id": "734236612",
                     "name": "Jens E. Rasmussen"
                  }
               ]
            }
         ]
      }
   ],
   "favorite_teams": [
      {
         "id": "112437965439134",
         "name": "Stanford Cardinal"
      },
      {
         "id": "106533819377582",
         "name": "San Francisco 49ers"
      },
      {
         "id": "109892325707088",
         "name": "A's"
      }
   ],
   "favorite_athletes": [
      {
         "id": "106056612759445",
         "name": "Toby Gerhart"
      },
      {
         "id": "112417838771364",
         "name": "Joe Montana"
      },
      {
         "id": "132355330134939",
         "name": "Andrew Luck"
      }
   ],
   "inspirational_people": [
      {
         "id": "103864656318694",
         "name": "Linus Torvalds"
      },
      {
         "id": "113529011990795",
         "name": "Steve Jobs"
      }
   ],
   "education": [
      {
         "school": {
            "id": "112075895485567",
            "name": "Acalanes High"
         },
         "type": "High School"
      },
      {
         "school": {
            "id": "6192688417",
            "name": "Stanford University"
         },
         "concentration": [
            {
               "id": "192578844099494",
               "name": "Computer Science"
            }
         ],
         "type": "College"
      },
      {
         "school": {
            "id": "6192688417",
            "name": "Stanford University"
         },
         "degree": {
            "id": "193640483997198",
            "name": "MS"
         },
         "concentration": [
            {
               "id": "192578844099494",
               "name": "Computer Science"
            }
         ],
         "type": "Graduate School"
      }
   ],
   "gender": "male",
   "locale": "en_US",
   "languages": [
      {
         "id": "106059522759137",
         "name": "English"
      },
      {
         "id": "110343528993409",
         "name": "Spanish"
      }
   ],
   "updated_time": "2011-05-02T05:06:10+0000"
}

Hopefully you'll think twice before allowing any ol' app access to your information. Even if you de-authorize an app, any ill-meaning developer could already have much of your information. It appears that true privacy all depends on the walls you put up and the intentions of the developers you let inside the fence.

Just for fun, here is code I simply copy-and-pasted from Facebook's Developer section on rendering anyone's Facebook profile image:

The idea is not new, but the execution and consequences are. It works basically the same way as Groupon. Facebook rounds up “deals” from local businesses (yes, Facebook knows where you are) and puts them up for mass buying – the idea being that everyone wins. The venue offering the deal gets value in volume of people participating, the consumer gets a good deal, and Facebook wins, too (how? Well, they’re not saying how.). It is important to differentiate between Deals and Check-In Deals. Check-In deals are free for merchants to offer and are offered only when the user checks into a venue on their mobile device. Here is a screenshot of a bit of my Deals landing page, though I have not yet “opted in”:

[pic... that I can't get to load]

When you opt into these deals, they will by default be delivered by email (the Groupon match) and in your news feed (the Groupon killer). I presume the emails can be stopped by navigating the preferences, but good luck with that. It’s not in Facebook’s interest to slow that train down. As you can see in the screenshot above, your friends can “like” the deals even if they don’t buy the deal. Even further, the deals are displayed to you with a notification that Friend X, Friend Y, and Friend Z already “like” the business this deal is from.

If you decide to buy the deal, you can pay with a major credit card or with Facebook Credits. This marks the first time that real goods may be bought with Credits (technically, Credits buy vouchers, not real goods, but…you know). Facebook isn’t talking about the profit splits, though. By default, the deal you bought is posted on your profile, unless you uncheck a box that indicates it will do so. You can also buy deals for friends as gifts – it will be interesting to see if those deals are posted to the Friend’s profile (I presume they will).

According to Facebook’s downloadable “Deals Guide for Businesses [Alpha]“:

We’ll distribute your deal in 8 ways
We’ll help you quickly and easily get the word out about your deal so that you
can focus on providing a great customer experience.
Here’s how:
1. The Facebook Home Page: The Home Page is the first thing that people see when they log on to Facebook. There is a Deals
link in the left-hand navigation column, so that people can find and buy your deal easily.
2. The Deals Page: This page shows your deal, along with others that are available for purchase in a given city.
3. Sponsored units: Your deal will be eligible to appear in a Sponsored Deals unit on the right-hand side of
the Home Page. This unit shows people friends that have liked or bought your deal and
lets them buy your deal directly.
4. Personal messages and Wall posts: People can send messages about your deal to their friends or share your deal on their
Wall. This makes it easy for people to make plans together.
5. News Feed stories: News Feed stories appear on the Home Page and give people information about their friends.
When people interact with your deal, News Feed stories will help spread the word about what
you’re offering in a natural and relevant way.
6. Onsite Notifications: We’ll notify people when friends like or buy a deal that they have also liked. We’ll also tell
people when their friend buys a deal for them.
7. Deals tab: Your deal is eligible to appear on the right-hand side of any deal that is currently running on a Facebook Page.
8. Emails: We’ll email people when friends like or buy a deal that they have liked as well. We’ll also send daily emails to people who have subscribed to our Deals updates.

Whoa. That’s a lot of sharing. It’s practically a pile a golden-fried bacon – anyone with a functional brain and an interest in advertising is salivating.

Well, so what? Now that we’ve covered the facts about this new service, let’s talk a little about the consequences. First of all, this is not a market where only one “deal” platform can win (short of blocking Groupon sharing from Facebook). By my previous posts, you’re aware that I’m primarily concerned with Facebook’s ability to seamlessly leverage the identities of its users to make money and what the future implications of this coup of control might be. To put it in a more plain way, you have the choice to put on a shirt in the morning that says “FACEBOOK”, and the average Joe is aware that by wearing that shirt, he is representing Facebook and showing that he supports it. No one shows up at Joe’s house and says “Joe! I’ll give you half off your lunch if you just wear this shirt!” By buying Deals, the average Joe is advertising to all of his friends for that company. That company then is able to leverage Joe’s support to convince his friends to support it too. In the end, that company has become a part of Joe’s identity – his friends will potentially remember that pairing for an indefinite amount of time (we are already trained to associate brands with people, afterall).

On the bright side, maybe this will wake people up and let them understand in a very real way that their online actions are not so private, anyway. The hoops that you have to jump through to not share on Facebook is nothing compared to what’s being tracked and sold “out there” beyond Facebook.

In previous posts, I have talked about some of the various ways companies are allowed to leverage the identities of Facebook users including attaching a user’s name to an ad without their express consent. What I haven’t discussed, however, is why it’s so easy to do this on Facebook. Let’s face it: Facebook’s platform is built to facilitate excavation and sale of same information to advertisers to line ol’ Zuck’s pockets. First, let’s take a look at some key pieces of Facebook’s privacy policy. Some key pieces in the “Information You Share with Third Parties” section:

When your friends use Platform. [...] If the application or website wants to access any of your other content or information (including your friend list), it will have to obtain specific permission from your friend.  If your friend grants specific permission to the application or website, it will generally only be able to access content and information about you that your friend can access. [That's generally all of it.]

Pre-Approved Third-Party Websites and Applications. In order to provide you with useful social experiences off of Facebook, we occasionally need to provide General Information about you to pre-approved third party websites and applications [Approved by whom and why? Well, by Facebook and because they feel like it... or because there was a fat check involved...] that use Platform at the time you visit them (if you are still logged in to Facebook).   Similarly, when one of your friends visits a pre-approved website or application, it will receive General Information about you so you and your friend can be connected on that website as well (if you also have an account with that website).   In these cases we require these websites and applications to go through an approval process, and to enter into separate agreements designed to protect your privacy. [This includes allowing the user to opt out of these services (good luck finding that option, by the way).]

This section of the Policy is actually for explaining some of the implications of participation with both the Facebook platform, applications on the Facebook Platform, and various websites not previously related to Facebook that have made deals (of which we know nothing about the terms) with Facebook. This brings up the “Open Graph” Facebook launched about this time last year, but we’ll cover that beast in detail in a later post. Look above at some of this text – the key is to look for short, all-inclusive words that give others large scale access to information. Your friend can grant applications on Facebook access to every bit of information they can see about you, whether they know they’re doing so or not. The agreements Facebook has with application developers requires they respect the limits imposed on them… they don’t really have to. When your friend visits pre-approved sites, the site gets information about you. Wait… WHAT?? Why? Well, because they can.

Key information in the “How Facebook uses your information” section:

To serve personalized advertising to you. We don’t share your information with advertisers without your consent. (An example of consent would be if you asked us to provide your shipping address to an advertiser to receive a free sample.) We allow advertisers to choose the characteristics of users who will see their advertisements and we may use any of the non-personally identifiable attributes we have collected (including information you may have decided not to show to other users, such as your birth year or other sensitive personal information or preferences) to select the appropriate audience for those advertisements.

If you’re not nervously looking over your shoulder by now, go get some caffeine and come back. You’re obviously asleep. Let’s start with the one above about using information you’ve gone through measures to keep private being used to sell targeted ads. Oh, that must be why I only see information about engagement rings and family planning services – even though no one on Facebook can see my birth year.

To serve social ads. We occasionally pair advertisements we serve with relevant information we have about you and your friends to make advertisements more interesting and more tailored to you and your friends. For example, if you connect with your favorite band’s page, we may display your name and profile photo next to an advertisement for that page that is displayed to your friends. We only share the personally identifiable information visible in the social ad with the friend who can see the ad.

You can apparently opt out of this feature, though you wouldn’t know it without reading the entire privacy policy. You can change settings for all social and third party ads at http://www.facebook.com/editaccount.php?ads. I’ve covered this before in a previous post, but the gist is this: if you “like” something, that entity (should they choose to have ads placed on Facebook) then has your consent to use your identity in their ads. You become a billboard for whatever entity that may be. Let’s say you “like” Target’s Facebook page so you can write your thoughts about their support of clearly anti-gay organizations. You may very well show up in an ad to all your friends supporting Target. Well, you asked for it, according to this Policy.

To make suggestions. We use your information, including the addresses you import through our contact importers, to make suggestions to you and other users on Facebook. For example, if another user imports the same email address as you do, we may suggest that you add each other as friends.  Similarly, if one of your friends uploads a picture of you, we may suggest that your friend tag you in the picture. We do this by comparing your friend’s pictures to information we’ve put together from the photos you’ve been tagged in.

If you think you’re safe in the masses on Facebook, think again. Complex algorithms are in place to leave no corner un-crawled and no data set un-analyzed. Any information you connect with Facebook is actively used to add density to the Facebook network (and yes, dollars to Zuck’s pockets).

But wait! There’s more:

Downloadable Software. Certain downloadable software applications and applets that we offer, such as our browser toolbars and photo uploaders, transmit data to us. We may not make a formal disclosure if we believe our collection of and use of the information is the obvious purpose of the application, such as the fact that we receive photos when you use our photo uploader. If we believe it is not obvious that we are collecting or using such information, we will make a disclosure to you the first time you provide the information to us so that you can decide whether you want to use that feature.

So whether or not Facebook discloses that information is being transmitted is solely at their discretion? Well, they obviously wouldn’t want to bug you about all that tedious stuff. You’re obviously much more important than that. It’s 2011, people. It probably obvious that all those toolbars track your every move and report back to the mother ship, right? Right. Wouldn’t want to bug you with any of that nonsense…

The Privacy Policy is designed ot look simple and straighforward, just like the platform is designed to make money. I’m not blaming anyone here. Facebook is a company designed to pull a profit, and that’s fine. The problem is that it is often talked about like some sort of public service. If it is viewed as a company, the game changes, and hopefully people snap out of the sense of security they’ve been lulled into. Until then… try not to get used.

Note: The above quotes are from Facebook’s Privacy Policy, located at http://www.facebook.com/policy.php accessed on April 20, 2011 at 11:15 a.m.

Identity theft is a form of fraud or cheating of another person’s identity in which someone pretends to be someone else by assuming that person’s identity, typically in order to access resources or obtain credit and other benefits in that person’s name. [...] The term identity theft was coined in 1964^[1] and is actually a misnomer, since it is not literally possible to steal an identity as such – more accurate terms would be identity fraud or impersonation or identity cloning but identity theft has become commonplace. (4/6/11; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identity_theft)

Unfortunately, the term identity theft has come to imply money, bank accounts, social security numbers, and the like. Identity implies the same. What about the everyday Joe’s online identity, though? Who’s giving out tips on how to protect that? At this time, unless you are actively monitoring your search rankings (AND know how to fix it if something goes awry), you’re a sitting duck. Like this guy:

Poooooooor Jack Weppler. A few months back, Jack Weppler broke up with his SEO-conscious girlfriend, who promptly used memegenerator.net to generate images like the one above. Google crawled them, as Google does, the LOLcat-style images spread like wildfire once the public caught wind of the scandal. So the story goes. Weppler’s mother made a plea to Google (which also, incidentally, spread like wildfire):

My minor son’s ex-girlfriend took a copyrighted picture of him (we own copyright) and uploaded it more than 60 times to a website. On each image she wrote slanderous, defamatory and pornographic captions. The webmaster of the site states he removed the images 6 weeks ago, but Google Search still shows all the images. My son is so stressed out and embarrassed and we’ve done everything we can to get images off of Google.

And now…

And now, little Jack is but a meme in the wind. It’s all a big joke – he can either sue her ’til he keels over or laugh it off, embrace it, and try to profit from it. The real issue for Jack is that his identity was stolen. His credit cards are safe and his bank account never saw any unlawful activity, but his identity is out of his hands.

A more devastating example would be what happened to former US Senator Rick Santorum (go ahead, Google it). Thanks to Dan Savage and his listeners in response to Mr. Santorum’s anti-gay views, a search for “Santorum” now turns up what Rick himself described as “vulgarity”. That was 7 years ago. It’s too late, Mr. Santorum. Sit down.

There is too little price put on online identities, in my opinion. Safeguards against traditional identity theft are in place left and right, but a stolen online identity can produce effects just as immediate and potentially further reaching than traditionally considered. So what does one do about it? Well, nothing, as of right now. Controversy is the fuel to the fire when it comes to identity theft online – it’s the “hole in the net” discussed in my earlier post. The more you try to fight it or cover it up, the faster it spreads. What can you do to prevent it? It helps to not be a douche-bag (this removes motivation for altering an established identity… you did Google Santorum, right?). It also helps to have a robust, active online presence in existence. The more robust your SEO and the more broad your reach, the less likely simple sabotages like the one Jack Weppler fell victim to would be any issue at all.

Prevention and after-effects aside, why is this not something that has safeguards in effect like traditional identity theft? Simply put, because no one has put a real value on online identities. Those of us engaging in SEO for our own name (or brands, if you will) clearly understand the value of an online identity (not only reputation-wise, but also in the conversion to ad revenue thanks to traffic), but the majority of the world likely has no real idea of why it’s important to be online. My great-grandfather had no idea what the internet was, with the exception of Google being like a phone book that automatically found the entry. Many business owners I work with have no idea that they can find customer reviews online about their store, restaurant, etc. Until online identity (reputation, Googleableness, Klout, whatever you want to measure it in) is taken seriously by both users of the internet and legislators, the slope will continue to be steep and slippery. At this point, anyone without real web savvy (and a true understanding of how the internet works on both a technical and a social level) could have their identity taken from their hands and put into the hands of meddling masses. Tough cookies.

Maybe it’s best this way? Maybe this is the solution we’ve been waiting for – where we can control our image. We can be out own PR pros! The problem is: we’re not all PR pros.

Lately, mainstream media has been abuzz about the alleged “Facebook Depression”. Let me first say that the people advocating its existence (the American Academy of Pediatrics) are not dubbing this a clinical depression, and “researchers disagree on whether it’s simply an extension of depression some kids feel in other circumstances, or a distinct condition linked with using the online site.” (Huffington Post article by Lindsey Tanner)

With in-your-face friends’ tallies, status updates and photos of happy-looking people having great times, Facebook pages can make some kids feel even worse if they think they don’t measure up.

It can be more painful than sitting alone in a crowded school cafeteria or other real-life encounters that can make kids feel down, [Dr. Gwenn] O’Keeffe [a Boston-area pediatrician and lead author of new American Academy of Pediatrics social media guidelines] said, because Facebook provides a skewed view of what’s really going on. Online, there’s no way to see facial expressions or read body language that provide context.

Now I will also emphasize I’m no psychologist and certainly have no experience in diagnosing children with anything, much less psychological ailments. I am, however, versed enough in online social environments to be able to speculate that this phenomenon is likely closely tied to the fact that we are in a period of time where building online identities is still a relatively new concept. We have not yet fleshed out what the “right way” to go about it is and we certainly haven’t fleshed out the way to deal with the skewed reality presented to us in the form of constructed identities of others. In fact, our adolescents engaging in these online environments are figuring it out for themselves, and sometimes the results are not what we would wish for our younger counterparts.

In real life, every day, parents teach their children social norms. “If you don’t have anything nice to say…” “You must respect your teacher…” “You must share your toys…” “Don’t say things like that, people will think…” “Don’t do that in public, people will say…” The problem is parents oftentimes don’t understand that they must now address two different “publics” with different rules of engagement. Out of necessity, kids are figuring it out for themselves, Lord of the Flies style.

The point is that naming ailments like “Facebook Depression” is putting attention where it needs to go, but isn’t prompting the action necessary to prevent the situation. We all have been conditioned to pretty well see the manipulation (well-meaning or not) of public identity by politicians in real life and online and advertisements by major corporations as a ploy to gain our trust or support, but the construction of online identities in online social environments has thus far largely escaped the gaze of the public. In order to take back the environments we have largely become dependent on, we must take the time to really understand (and to teach our children) how the ploys of old media have morphed into ploys for online media. Your “friends” are not always exactly who they show you they are, your favorite companies are most definitely not who they say they are, and if you’re smart, your profile is not exactly representative of you, either. If you’re not playing the same game, you are, in fact, alone.