The Sharing Culture: Our posts on social media

Caitlyn Tjong • February 5, 2015

JUNIOR MAY CUI
Instagram and Facebook user
Updates: spontaneous

A quick scroll through junior May Cui’s Instagram feed gives a comprehensive view on who she is: her outfit of the day, a bowl of chicken noodle soup and photos with her friends. As an active Instagram and Facebook user, junior May Cui weighs Instagram over Facebook.

“I have 1,500 friends on Facebook, and I definitely don’t know all of them, so when I post on Facebook it feels less like I’m sharing [with my friends] and more like I’m just putting it out there [for anyone to see],” Cui said. “On Instagram, I feel like I’m sharing with friends and I know that people that I’m close to will definitely see it.”

With 1,500 friends, Cui is a member of a social network rather than a friend in a group of friends. The name “Facebook friend” to her is not necessarily synonymous with “friend.” On Instagram, Cui is certain that the people that see her posts are indeed her friends.

SOPHOMORE DAVID CHEN
Facebook User
Updates: several times a week

In a generation of “me, me, me,” sophomore David Chen, an ardent poster and liker on Facebook, is more about the “you, you, you.” Finishing his homework two days early was something simple that could not truly be deemed an accomplishment but filled him with pride, and he wished to share his triumph in staying up through the night and until 1:24 a.m. with his friends. It’s not solely for the solace he finds in knowing others feel the same way he does, Chen explains, but rather how it deepens friendships and makes bonds hold. It is mutual.

When liking the posts of “friends,” Chen thinks in much the same manner.

“I like a lot of things,” Chen said, “because I don’t want people to think that I don’t care about them.”

Reported on by Rhonda Mak and Caitlyn Tjong