Do You Speak Facebookish?

Facebook is one of the greatest inventions of the 21st century. Mark Zuckerberg and his team created a new reality. At first, Facebook entertained us and we were mere snooping observers of what was going on in other people’s lives. Gradually each of us evolved to be a participant of a new well-run business, a new cultural movement, a new sociological experiment. Naturally, in order to talk about Facebook we need new words, their combinations and new meanings. So, do you speak Facebookish? Taking usies (pronounced as “uss-eez”), group photos made by one person from the group, and selfies, self-portraits, usually made with cameras on mobile devices, is now one of the most widespread habits, popular among blondes, jocks, school children, teachers, policemen and presidents.

Pete Souza / The White House

To be more exact, the epidemic habit of taking selfies is nowadays a cultural phenomenon that led to the appearance of other accompanying terms like narcisstick (a humorous name for a selfie stick – a device for taking selfies), shelfie (a photo of one’s bookshelf taken to show intellectual interests and literary preferences), and sleeveface (a photo in which one’s face is covered by a music album’s sleeve to create a funny or curious effect).

Dronie is a video self-portrait or a short movie taken by a camera set on a self-controlled drone. Shooting a dronie is more than occasional fun. With best technical equipment in their hands and huge creative potential in their heads, people use this new way of shooting as a powerful way of self-expression. It is often an attempt of conveying important ideas and making significant art statements that quickly spread via Facebook and YouTube. You will be surprised to know that there are even festivals for drone films, for example New York City Drone Film Festival (http://www.nycdronefilmfestival.com).

vimeo.com

Facebook is now frequently used as a shopping-window of our lives. While psychologists and sociologists explore the reasons of why people voluntarily lose privacy, we can remember that thanks to good old Shakespeare we are used to thinking of our lives as of a theatre:

“All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players…”

Nowadays, success theater refers to posting enhanced photos and cool statuses intended to make others believe that you are more successful than you really are. Some Facebook users invent totally false identities with the intention to involve others into romantic relations or online flirts. This is called catfishing. Others resort to even a more radical way of adorning their virtual reflection – a cosmetic surgery planned with distinct intentions to have better looks for Facebook. Plastic surgeons named this kind of surgery the Facebook facelift. In the societies where success is almost impossible without an impeccable appearance, the number of plastic surgeries continues to grow. In 2014 in the USA it increased by 3% in comparison with 2013.

Thanks to Facebook and other social networking media, we witness the rise of a new type of sexuality – datasexuality. Datasexuals are insistently collecting every single detail about their personal lives. The more data they post the sexier they feel.