A closer look at Catfish and the reality of Social Media

Social Media has taken the world by storm with a staggering scope and intensity. Since Facebook launched in 2004 it now maintains more than 600 million users. T witter boasts about 175 million users and LinkedIn has around 90 million. Gone are the days of anonymous user names and “handles”, our online profiles are now linked to our true identity. Our real life friends are being brought into the online space, and our inner thoughts are locked in daily status updates for all to see. But how real is this experience? Are our offline and online personalities merely converging or does social media provide a skewed perception of reality?

About a month ago during the World Cinema Showcase in Auckland, I was given a ticket to watch the movie Catfish (courtesy of Social Media New Zealand) as I am a distant relative of Pricilla Chan (Mark Zuckerberg girlfriend)[1] they thought I might find it relevant. Catfish is a 2010 documentary which follows the burgeoning and unexpected relationship between Nev Schulman, a New York based photographer and the mysterious and beautiful Megan. Megan is the older sister of Abby, an 8-year old prodigy in a rural Michigan town who sends Nev her paintings based on the photos he takes. Through Abby, Nev becomes friends with her mother, several other family members and friends and ultimately her sister Megan who Nev falls in love with. Their entire 8 month courtship is conducted remotely, through text messaging and “sexting”, phone calls, Facebook and Google Chat. Although they have never met in real life, the two fall in love.

An interesting film; watching Catfish was like seeing fascinating dismantlement of social networking and the life that we live online. Much of the movie was seen looking over Nev’s shoulder focusing on screenshots fromwall messages posted on Facebook, instant messaging through Google Chat and listening to MP3 recordings. Images of the couple together are photoshoppedand distances between locations become much less remote when expressed through Google Maps. How can one not feel connected to a person on the other side of the screen and country when all this technology is freely available? However, connection is one thing, reality is other. For 24 year old Nev, he would soon find out that his 19 year old online lover, her family and friends were actually all the mastermind of one Angela Wesselman, an artist and housewife from Ishpeming, Michigan. Using pictures stolen from the internet and an incredible amount of multitasking, Angela created an intricate web of false personalities online. Mostly unsuspected, Nev only realized something was amiss when an MP3 song that Megan had supposedly composed seemed to sound exactly like a music video on Youtube.

It is easy to say that Nev was a victim of an extreme internet scam but recent news proves that Nev’s story is becoming a regular occurrence. Just last month, a New Zealand woman was accused of using multiple identities to maintain relationships with several young boys[2]. But it doesn’t just take a false identity to misrepresent oneself online. Even Nev admitted that the version that he communicated to Megan was the absolute best portrayal of himself. A recent study from Stanford University shows that Facebook status updates are usually positive and self promoting and few people actually report their latest failure[3]. Negative emotions are often suppressed and don’t make it online. Virtual reality becomes skewed and we start to live in a bubble of happiness and success.

Social Media is a great tool. It has allowed communities of far flung likeminded people to meet each other and for those isolated due to illness it has served as a lifeline to the outside world. Current affairs are captured down to the minute and people are able to communicate directly to celebrities, politicians, businesses and CEOs. But be cautious of what you hear and see online. It may not always be the truth.

[1] FYI – I bear no relation to Pricilla Chan. I won the ticket in a competition run by Social Media NZ

[2] NZ Herald - Facebook predator unmasked

[3] Time Magazine - You're not alone misery has more company than you think.

References:

Berman, T. Deutsh, G. and Sher, L. Exclusive 'Catfish's' Angela Wasselman Speaks out - ABC 20/20 (2010)

Catfish - Offical Website (Obtained 2011)

Fisher, D. Facebook predator unmasked - NZ Herald (2011)

Quinn, B. Social network users have twice as many friends online as in real life (2011)

Szalavitz, M. Misery Has More Company Than You Think, Especially on Facebook - Time Magazin e (2011)