As Marshall McLuhan, a cornerstone figure in media theory, discussed in his 1964 work on the evolution of media forms, “the medium is the massage”. While this work predates the creation of the Internet and Facebook by nearly three decades, his predictions regarding the way in which the media form, rather than content, has the ability to generate meaning is highly relevant in today’s web-driven society. By examining Facebook as a media form, it is evident how the rules that govern that media tailor the way in which we conduct and present our online selves, shaping the messages that develop our Facebook identities and life narratives.

Facebook’s platform is highly socially constructed. As discussed by Marianne Leonardi’s work on “Narrative as Self Performance: The Rhetorical Construction of Identities on Facebook Profiles,” she suggests that, “the structure of Facebook constrains and enables the communication of messages and as a result, content is either included or excluded” (28). A key characteristic of Facebook’s web platform that illustrates this is the timeline feature, which steers users into answering personal questions in a highly tailored manor, as well as favouring certain types of information over others. For example, the concept of the “like” button largely compels users into presenting information about themselves that is like-worthy and that will spur further engagement from other Facebook users. As a result, the moments or stories presented on our profiles constrain our lives narratives to these extraordinary life moments or positive endeavours, neglecting the authentic realities that may occur in our day-to-day lives.

In the context of Carolyn Miller’s work “Genre as Social Action,” the rules that govern Facebook create exigencies amongst users in which we feel socially compelled to write about certain ideas or in ways that fulfill specific expectations or needs related to the media form. This is demonstrated in the “work and education” section of timeline, in which Facebook asks you to fill in where you went to university, studied abroad, and past jobs you’ve had. These questions largely reinforce specific values of a western, elite, wealthy society, further limiting the information that is being presented. Yochai Benkler in his work theoretical work, Wealth of Networks, demonstrates that these limits are largely informed by the “sociocultural business context into which they were introduced,” causing communications media to “take on certain social roles” and “structures of control” (369). As Facebook was created by Mark Zuckerberg and a group of white, privileged, highly educated individuals, the values of Facebook are manifested in its form, which, in turn, shape the messages that users create. Therefore, by narrowing our life narratives online to these “cultural scripts of success”, the medium itself is fundamentally shaping the messages we are relaying to our audience.

As we move into an age in which we govern much of our lives over cyberspace, the creation of our life narratives online becomes increasingly prevalent. Facebook’s platform demonstrates how our stories largely interact with the media itself, shaping and constraining our own life narratives in significant ways. Perhaps McLuhan was right all along.