A profile.

And here is my first attempt at a profile. It is of a class mate after a half hour interview so content was limited.

Liz McGee

According to her Facebook profile, Elizabeth McGee is female, she lives in Kiama, was born on the 8^th of June and she studies at the University of Wollongong. What Facebook won’t tell you, is that Liz has always lived in Kiama, and finds it obscenely boring or that she studies a double major in Journalism and advertising and marketing. It also shows us that she has red tips in her hair, but it doesn’t tell us why.

 It won’t tell you that she; has done surf club, plays netball at a representative level, dances (not just in her bedroom with the door shut and earphones in, but really dances, does classes and performs) and plays touch football. It does not give you any information about the fact that Liz works 2 jobs, one at an ice creamery and one as a waitress at Relish, one of the prime dining restaurants in the Illawarra.  It won’t tell you that despite living in a beach town where the ocean is the main attraction, she doesn’t really like the beach and would much prefer to hang out in Sydney.  What I am discovering about Liz, is that she is not as she seems. Facebook has lied.

Liz has a boyfriend. Facebook doesn’t even tell you that! They have been together for one year. He is 22, lives in Sydney, is unemployed, and according to Liz, is “a massive stoner”. It seems an unlikely couple, given that she is the polar opposite to him. She does tell me that she was a little wild in high school though. She liked to go out and party a lot, because there was nothing else to do in Kiama.

“Once, I got caught with a fake ID in Woolworths Liquor. I spent years going out in Sydney and Wollongong, clubbing and pubbing, and I get my fake ID taken off me in Kiama,” She recalls. 

This image that Liz has created for all her friends and family during her teenage years, through facebook and her party girl lifestyle, does not hold as strongly now as it once did. She talks about her university degree being her main focus at the moment. “I have also applied for an internship with Annex. I am worried about the commitment but I feel like I need to make an effort and get motivated to do well. I am too laid back!” Liz says, when asked about whether she still likes to party.  

In addition to her ambitious dreams involving a career in marketing, her work commitments, her study schedule and her hectic extra curricular activities timetable, Liz has still found time for travel. Her most recent adventure was with friends to Thailand and this is a fond memory. If facebook is in any way an accurate profile of a person, this is where it lives up to its reputation for profiling people. We flick through the photos of Liz in Thailand and we come to one that catches her eye. She explains that “On our first day in Thailand I stepped on a sea urchin and ended up in hospital. That was fun”.  It’s the cheeky little stories like this that throw hints in the air that there is more to Liz than meets the eye.

Elizabeth McGee is a classic example of life as a teenager today. Her story is not extraordinary, but it represents the majority of teens living in small coastal towns.  She is an example of someone who is very different in their Facebook profile, to in person and she admits that “This isn’t necessarily a bad thing.”

Facebook might be considered a profile of someone, but how much can we really learn about someone on Facebook? Even if they are willing to share almost their entire life. We can’t help but judge someone, literally by their cover, when what really counts, as Liz has shown, is the person themself, not what they chose to share with their ‘friends on Facebook’.

And regarding the red tips in her hair? “I just like them,” she laughs. “It’s just a part of me now.”