Consumption Exposure on Facebook: What Do We Share in the Online Environment?

IntroductionIn Romania there is already a significant access to the Internefiso that the online presence or manifestation of individuals in this medium is no longer an unknown or isolated situation, but can be turned into an object of study. A key aspect in this respect is consumption. The arguments in this regard are that, without being consumed, the Internet would not exist, and without consuming/ absorbing information (in the most broad meaning), the Internet would not evolve, it would not enrich: we consume on the Internet, we consume through the Internet, we buy and sell online, we consume basically all that the World Wide Web offers, we consume online social networks. Furthermore, in our turn, we are "consumed" because we actively manifest ourselves in this reality and sometimes even in virtual worlds.But the version that I have in mind relates to the representation of consumption in the online environment. People choose to share on the Internet a virtual portrait built through the exposed consumption. Thus, not only we photograph objects, the food, the consumed experiences, but filtering out what is happening in our lives, we publish online pictures of the new car, the new phone, the last purchased shoes, the palm trees from the exotic vacation we have just returned from with souvenirs that we do not forget and we make them popular on our network of online connections. Online social networks such as Facebook2 provide the right environment for exposure and construction/ reconstruction of self by means of consumption. Therefore from the last book we read, the last theater play we watched, the last visited museum or the name of the cafe where we relaxed with friends, everything is on the Internet. How does consumption look like in the light of the online social networks? What do we share in the online social environment in which express ourselves? As a result of this research, I expect an understanding of what we expose on Facebook. I also hope to confirm the viability of the research strategy and to identify ways of improving and expanding the research.Internet, research strategies, online social networks and consumptionAs our life is becoming increasingly mediated by technology, study disciplines must adapt and blogs, forums and online social networks unveil new research opportunities and better and easier coverage from the geographical point of view. I noticed, during the search and while consulting the bibliography, that the trend is to rather write about the advantages, disadvantages, problems, limitations or the statute of the online research in its broadest sense. Responding to questions about social life, about people through the Internet and taking advantage of its role in the lives of individuals falls into the background. In the case of these researches, although there is a subject attached to the article, the methodology section is detailed to the same extent, the thesis being a pretext for developing the methodological aspects. This finding reinforces my idea that the online research still has some legitimacy issues.Photo cameras, video cameras, web, videoconferences, questionnaires and online or by email interviews, although they open the door to otherwise inaccessible respondents they are still instruments with limited influence in the method textbooks (Murthy, 2008). On the other hand, Angela Cora Garcia, Alecea I. Standlee, Jennifer Bechkoff and Yan Cui (2009) consider that ethnographic research of the Internet and computer-mediated communication transforms the interaction between subjects and the researcher in an anonymous one. Direct contact is replaced by information in the form of text, audio or visual data. All this requires that the researcher adjusts the way he defines the research question, but also the way he actually performs the research and responds to emerging ethical dilemmas.Thus being a field that reveals new methodological challenges, researchers have addressed different strategies to answer any raised questions and hypotheses. …