Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Katie Joseff profile by Jimmy

This individual’s profile shows a remarkable absence of personal activity. The majority of her wall is taken up by the posts of others, and these are most often of her and her cohorts socializing. Her ‘about’ page lacks much information beyond the bare minimum required, suggesting either a lack of interest in this kind of information. The majority of information she conveys is through pictures. The majority are of her friends socializing and acting silly, especially those posted by her friends, but when left to her own devices she puts across an subversive blend of the typical, such as the setting and composition of her profile picture, and the funny, such as the photoshopped shark. Her verbal declarations are reserved for instances in which she wishes to show due gravity; specifically, the passing away of her friend. Overall, her profile is an embodiment of the young adult who has a sense of humor but is not frivolous.

Profile 28


The most prominently conveyed aspect of ______'s identity is her interest and participation in musical theater. Both her profile picture and cover photo are a promotional flyer for Ram's Head Theatrical Society's production of Les Misérables. From this, the audience can infer that ______ is involved in the production in some manner, either as a performer or as a participant behind-the-scenes.
Nicole's interest in musical theater can be further exemplified through a video that a friend shared on her timeline—a flash mob performed by the Australian cast of The Lion King: The Musical. This indicates that others are aware of ______'s love of musical theater and know she would appreciate such a video.
As we scroll down, _______'s profile, we discover that she is indeed a singer and performer of musical theater. This is indicated by multiple photos of ______ holding a microphone and singing in a concert setting. Overall, it is evident that music and theater are important aspects of _______'s life.

Profile 27

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Usually I look at profile photos first when looking at someone’s profile but since I am sitting next to him I didn’t feel it was urgent. Also his wall was interesting with humorous jokes (one about pi and another semi pop culture reference (I say semi, cause I only kind of got it but knew that it was funny, but I’m not very good with pop culture)) and a cover photo that was very random/strange but interesting and appealed to my sense of humor. There was also a photo of a solar flare, so scientific, and another of him in nature climbing a tree, not in a forest, and also a photo of a concert but I couldn’t see the band or guess who it was from description. Many postings of music on his wall and of really unique music that looked funny and interesting (“Turkey Rhubarb” song) and he also “likes” 52 bands but Facebook does the interests in the About section oddly so it’s hard to tell. What first struck me though was that a lot of his profile was in Spanish and that he was from Peru, which I would have never guessed. Also his profile pictures were some of art that he had drawn himself and were really cool so he is clearly a musician, artist, and interested in some science, and humorous. Also went to the Battle for Middle Earth. And has 21 family members, but they had different last names so it shows he was many relatives, or many close friends that he calls family.

Profile 26

Stephen makes the claim that he likes aerobatic feats. His profile illustrates this by including various videos of others and himself flipping, and a picture of himself in a cast and crutches. He also makes the claim that he values academics, as his profile includes a photo of his acceptance letter to Stanford and a photo at a science fair. He also wants us to know that he isn’t just into academics as there are several picture of him making silly faces with friends. Also, he wants us to know that he likes the red hot chili peppers, judging from the picture of a ticket to a chili peppers concert and a photo of the band performing.

Profile 25

A deep rhetorical analysis aimed towards my partner

In my eyes, the claim that the profile of my partner makes is a person who prefers closely knit communities. This is reflected through her photos, a prominent part of her social media page, and they are often shot by or with other people. Furthermore you can see the groups that she is a part of on campus, which includes a sib fam, and several other groups. Furthermore, I can make out that my partner is a music fan, since another prominent part of her primary facebook page are her music interests, which are few and eclectic. My partner also probably doesn’t like being a overtly public profile, as shown by the lack of a cover photo and lack of statuses posted by herself, which also suggests that she might not use this social media platform that often.


Profile 24

The absence of activity of _______________ on any social media shows that he has a busy life and does not have time to update social media. Browsing his Facebook, he has not posted a status since July 2013 and has not changed his profile picture since July 2012. Despite the lack of posts by himself, he is tagged in many pictures that others have posted. This shows that he has a fairly exciting and busy life, but the fact that he did not post these himself shows that he is not too concerned with how people perceive him. Overall, his Facebook profile portrays a person who is too busy with other endeavors to care about updating social media.

Profile 23

_________ makes the claim that her life revolves around her family, friends, and passion for her craft. Posts revolving around these areas of her life seem to dominate her facebook, with occasional posts concerning events that may make her fb friends laugh or to simply vent about her obsessions, such as Breaking Bad and The Hobbit. Her pictures nearly always feature her friends and family, demonstrating their importance in her life. Her posts also sometimes seem to serve as entertainment, which likely stems from her passion for performing. She portrays herself as an incredibly fun loving and humorous person, while at the same time demonstrating herself to be incredibly serious about her passions. 

Profile 22

Through the lens of a Facebook profile, my partner creates a sense of identity based on both their direct social connections and physical location. In stalking through the profile, rare was the picture (1 in roughly 50) that did not include at least one other person. Of these pictures, it was most common for the additional people to be of my partner’s age, usually linked to Stanford. While these pictures are peer uploaded, my partner’s self-uploaded photos center widely on photographs of nature and portraits with family, displaying a widely involved social circle and an emphasis on physical location. In fact, while many profiles choose to omit information such as school, place of work, etc. my partner’s profile outlines these in detail, listing previous places of work and schooling as well, building a display for an involved lifestyle. Were I to draw conclusions based on a rhetorical analysis of my partner’s profile, I would claim that they prioritize social interaction with peers, while in a lesser sense try to maintain a connection with physical locations – such as Stanford or one of the many self-shot outdoor photos uploaded.

Profile 21

_____'s Facebook profile, no doubt like many in our class, effortlessly showcases an excellent image of a happy, enthusiastic, fun loving Stanford student. School pride clearly isn't an issue; his profile picture is from a Stanford football game, and his cover photo includes the Stanford campus. This is a bold opening statement which quickly announces his academic prowess while focusing on his love of a collegiate environment. A quick glance into older profile pictures suggests that he's both an accomplished swimmer and runner. Putting these solely visual aspects of his Facebook together, we get a picture of a student who is athletic and has been involved in his school community from high school onwards, and this can lead us to infer that he's full of Stanford pride and is well-involved. This claim is easily supported when one lays their eyes on photos of _____ in the Stanford band. With his enthusiasm for our alma mater all but assured, one can move on to see that _____ is a jovial character, judging from the amount of funny faces and photo bombs throughout his tagged photos. Going deeper into his profile, one can also notice his strong interest in music (something being enrolled in band didn't necessarily imply). With just a few quick glances through _____'s timeline, "about" section, and photos, we quickly absorb his profile's emphasis on social involvement, Stanford pride, and interest in athletics and music. An excellent snapshot of the ____ we all know and love. 

Profile 20

Through "________________" 's Facebook page, one can see that "_______" likes to joke around but also takes issues seriously. They post statuses and pictures that make people laugh but also have a cover photo that addresses a serious issue. Through "_________" 's posts, one can get a sense of their humor and understand that they like to poke fun and keep things interesting. They portray their life in a more light hearted and funny way by posting funny messages from their mom or poking fun at events that have happened during their day.

Profile 19

The overwhelming majority of posts on ______’s page are her being tagged in others’ photos. Her cover photo is her surrounded by several friends, probably from high school judging by the date. Taken as a whole, her cover photos reflect friendship and community, and close relationships at that. A similar trend exists in her profile photos, but with the inclusion of her sports- and music-related activities. Tennis and marching band appear to be activities which are important to her and which provided some of the previously mentioned communities. Her profile is not populated with any “Likes” that I was able to view, perhaps showing a concern for privacy even within circles of friends or a disinterest in casual updates. The handful of text posts she has made indicate her closeness with friends and family as well as a good sense of humor. Her friends clearly value her friendship.

Profile 18


Thesis: This person portrays herself as a creative and fun-loving person who can be dramatic in the most light-hearted way possible.

She portrays a joking tone by stating that her name is Florence (in an Instagram post) when her profile name clearly is another name.  Her location pin states that she was at Harvard University when she took the picture, but her post comment goes against this by stating that she and her girlfriend go to MIT.  The picture further implements a jokingly deceptive tone by attaching the hashtag #theydontevengohere.  The majority of her pictures portray her smiling as if she were laughing incredibly hard – because of this, she portrays herself as very approachable and a fun person to be around.  Most of the pictures she posts have a creative filter on them to produce either more contrast or deeper colors.  This demonstrates that she wants to portray herself in the most favorable lens by taking the time to enhance the photo, making it more dramatic than what was actually taken.  

Profile 17

Using a combination of both photo evidence of his own theatrical and musical endeavors as well as those in popular musical theatre, he establishes his identity as more than someone who is solely interested in theatre, but as an outgoing and enthusiastic theatre person. One of his cover photos is of a popular movie, whereas another is of his own a cappella group at Stanford, showing that he not only knows about theatre, music and film, but he actively participates in it himself. He also has included a nickname (D-Lo) in parentheses next to his full, formal Facebook, invoking in his profile viewers a sense of familiarity and approachableness. Although in his information section he lists that he is a secretary in the Department of Philosophy, which appears official and prestigious, he subtly counteracts this title with the nickname so as to appear slightly less formal. Yet even so, he leaves parts of his identity mysterious up for interpretation with some of his less obvious choices for a cover photo. One of them is a picture of a deformed tomato on a countertop, which could be interpreted a myriad ways. With no caption or context, he forces his profile viewers to question his purpose in posting this picture, even if the image itself is meaningless. People subconsciously want to learn more about him through this image, because they not only want to know what the picture signifies, but what his intentions were in posting it. Does he think it is funny? Does is have a deeper significance? Does he collect strange vegetables and fruit? Was he hacked? 

Profile 16

This person's Facebook profile is an excellent representation of himself; it conveys his interests in musics, physics, and TV shows, but also showcases his sense of humor and perhaps a more quirky side to himself. This person primarily uses text to describe his daily activities, musings, questions, and observations. His interests are also conveyed in his pictures. There are pictures of him partaking in musical events and pictures of him working in a lab. This person is not afraid to share his identity as evidenced by his frequent Facebook postings. He cares about his interests; for example, he has some postings promoting musical events he is partaking in and updates on his pursuit of physics. While browsing through the textual and visual rhetoric, it is clear that he has an identity that he is comfortable with and is not afraid to share. His postings use simple language and often vary in length and style. One can see that he speaks his mind because his postings vary from informational to humorous. With a quick scroll through this person's profile, it is clear that this is an accurate representation of his personality and interests; the use of "performance" is honest and open. 

profile 14

Through the employment of briefly written statuses, minimal posting, and impersonal pictures, ______________uses his Facebook profile to convey an identity of a masculine, unemotional, and authentic person. The brevity of his status updates demonstrate that he finds little value in exercising a great deal of effort in making impressions over social media; this also helps him to validate his desire to appear authentic and uninterested in superficial relationships by renouncing their importance. He renounces their importance by refusing to participate in the typical mass showcase of personal events and thoughts that typically takes place over social media sites like Facebook. Additionally, it reinforces his desire to appear masculine by employing little emotion and profound personal thoughts since masculinity is associated with a control over extreme emotions. Furthermore, ______ inconsistency in posting moreover demonstrates his disinterest with his appearance on social media and thus signifies a preference for appearing authentic. Authenticity is typically associated as the opposite of its dichotomy-inauthentic; basically someone who is authentic behaves naturally and without concern of external opinions. His use of impersonal pictures- such as the fact that his profile pictures does not feature him, further reinforces his desire to appear unconcerned with his public appearance- especially on social media, and thus more authentic. In addition, because his profile picture and cover photo feature a baseball team- the San Francisco Giants- this exemplifies _______ desire to appear masculine. 

profile 13

Based on his Facebook page, the subject is virtually immune to embarrassment, which is an admirable trait that most people inherently lack. This consequently makes his posts incredibly funny. Looking at the profile from a strictly visual perspective, we immediately see how absurd his profile picture and cover photo are. Both are highly sexual, as well as many of his other posts, but he does not seem to worry that he will receive criticism for them from the members of his audience who are more politically correct. Seeing these types of pictures on Facebook is refreshing, as they do not harm anyone, yet people, myself included, fear the backlash it may bring. The subject’s lack of regard for this unnecessary backlash makes the page so funny and likable. Looking more closely, specifically at the subject’s comments and textual posts, we see the raunchy, free-spirited sense of humor we saw in his photos. This profile in a way rebels against the often annoying social constructs that confine social media activity. So many people appreciate the sense of humor the subject displays, yet the vast majority of them refrain from making similar posts because it is not “proper.” The subject’s disregard of hindering expectations is something we need more of on Facebook. 

Profile 15

X’s Facebook profile presents his identity as a driven and educated young man who also has diverse interests. Displaying his passion for sports by a cover picture of him scoring a goal in quidditch, the audience can immediately tell about his athleticism and competitive spirit. Such a spirit translates to his education, prominently displaying his education at Stanford and pursuing a Mechanical Engineering degree (when most freshman still are undecided). Considering he also shows he worked at an electronics equipment store, we are reinforced that he’s career-driven too. Interestingly, his profile picture highlights a different aspect of his life: a woman. Such a contrast to his competitiveness displayed in education and sports  offers a personal touch and tells the audience that’s he’s not only academically and physically strong but also socially balanced.  Just a quick glance through his likes, he has a diverse interest in music and comedic movies and TV shows. Overall, X presents himself as a well-rounded individual, claiming that he has a competitive edge in sports and education, but also the capacity and balance to explore other interests too. 
i forgot to omit my partners name! is that a problem?

Profile 12


Ted uses textual and visual rhetoric to paint a picture of himself as a trendy, sociable, and sporty person.  In doing so, he ultimately chooses to portray himself as a person who loves to be in the company of others and does not hesitate to be forward about his interests and promote them externally. He feels that his friendships will come naturally once he does that. For instance, in one of Ted’s photos, he showed a clear affinity for having exceptional taste in clothing that is ahead of his time. The visual rhetoric in that photo, particularly Ted’s facial composition, show that he is excited to spread his trendiness to others, but is also relaxed about it. His posture also indicates the same traits in that it is an outgoing, inviting posture, but relaxed at the same time. In addition, Ted utilizes textual rhetoric riddled with solid claims that display his love for sports. For example, in one post on Ted’s wall, he comments about a great basketball series involving the basketball star Ray Allen and is very adamant about his love of basketball. He also comments adamantly in support of one of his favorite TV shows in a post on his wall and is not reserved about his appreciation for the finer details of Breaking Bad. Clearly, Ted paints himself as a savvy, gregarious individual with strong interests through his photos and comments.

Profile 11

[name]'s facebook profile shows a public performance of a student who is having a good time at Stanford with a fulfilling social life and good study habits without going into much detail. One thing that I noticed was the absence of posts, pictures, or information about things that were not going well or more personal details. In her "About," for instance, the only two categories filled in under "Basic Information" were her birthday and her gender, two of the more basic categories. Her pictures tend to emphasize her identity as a Stanford student; many of her pictures, including her cover photo, involve multiple people in Stanford t-shirts. There are a lot of pictures and posts that show her having a good time with her friends at memorable activities and some posts discussing good progress on essays and the like. She primarily performs the image of a happy, social Stanford student without any indications of potential struggles or challenges. 

Profile 10

This person's twitter account makes the claim that minimal effort is bolder than the culture of maximal displays of effort by which he is surrounded. The first thing one sees on this account is the all black icon and identically black banner photo. Only his first name is given. Underneath that display name lies his username: his first name, all in capital letters spelled with no vowels. This is a distilled example of the larger identity claims this profile gives off: a disdain for the unnecessary. A pride in ironic simplicity. While the content of his tweets are quick, authoritative, and sharp, they lack the capitalization and grammar that this person is obviously capable of. He pokes at the intelligence (which he himself possesses) that people want to broadcast by using format-less text, incomplete thoughts, and irony. Between tweets that clearly come from an intelligent mind are references to rap and reggae songs. It could be as simple as one noise (that is not even a word), repeated a few times in all caps. He does not care if it is understood.

Profile 9

Through the analysis of this profile, it can be concluded that this person portrays himself as a natural comedian. It is filled with links to humorous posts and many pictures displaying him not only having fun, but also poking fun at himself and others. The pictures are quite funny and show a wide range of emotions that add to the humor. It's clear that the person is sociable and friendly based on the amount of friend activity in the profile, especially pictures and posts. From looking at the profile, it is also evident that this person is very familiar with popular Internet memes and trends, as well as social apps that eventually tie back to the intended focus on humor. Despite this focus, it's also apparent that there is a lot more to this person than just being comical and entertaining. The posts show a large interest in music, travelling and physical activity. This person seems worldly and knowledgeable, also because of his consciousness of intellectual aspects and the fact that he values his academic feats, having the prestigious institutions he attended prominently listed on his profile, and yet not coming off as arrogant.

Facebook Profile 8

I studied my partner's facebook profile; she presents herself as the total package: she appears like a very well-rounded individual with many varied interests, which makes it hard for viewers to easily place her into a certain niche or stereotype. First, she identifies strongly with the Latin American community, as shown through the groups she has joined, the music she enjoys listening to, and the Spanish comments posted on her timeline. She shows others her more cosmopolitan side, posting photos of exotic places she's visited like France, Italy, and Honduras. She also defines herself as an athlete, showing her support for basketball in her likes and profile pictures of her basketball team. Her likes, especially her list of movies, shows that she is a girl of action: with action-heavy movies like the Godfather, the Dark Knight series, and very serious, critically-acclaimed drama movies like the Shawshank Redemption and Good Will Hunting, she presents herself as a more serious and thrill-seeking person. However, her profile pictures and cover photos show a more whimsical side of her. About half of her profile pictures are not of herself: the funnier ones include a picture of an angry orange, a cute comic about crayons, and a picture of a Domo plush doll. Her statuses are mostly lighthearted and meant to make people smile. In all, she gives viewers a quick outline of who she is, making sure to let others know that there is more to her than meets the eye.

Profile 7


After looking at "                " facebook profile, this person is very friendly and active in social activity other than academics. This person is not privy to only an academic focus but also to large groups where he/she exudes happiness, especially with close friends as exhibited by photos with reoccurring people both in the dorm (frosh formal, Halloween parties) and what seem to be outside excursions.  He/she also has an artistic side that is refreshing as it depicts a fondness for theatrical events and endearing poses or costume-like accessories such as animal hats and certain hand poses. This person is not "obsessed" with accumulating as many friends as possible for merely a record number as he/she has a reasonable amount of friends well under 500 meaning that he/she probably knows all the people on the friends list in some actual capacity other than social media and a "one-time meet and greet."  This person has a laid-back attitude as in one picture he/she is laughing with friends and hugging. This person is photogenic as all the pictures appear methodically picked out because they are so well taken but this is not the case. This person also likes to share traits and likes that are not contemporary fads or common likes to show originality and a genuine personality as shown by his/her musical likes such as K-pop and interest in comedy. 

Profile 6


Alexandra uses photos representative of her hobbies to convey what she is interested and invested in. She uses a profile picture where she looks unhappy and has a dark hood that covers most of her face. She may be trying to make a more general statement about her attitude and feeling towards life, which is clearly unhappy and helpless. Textually, her tweets are very substance less, casual and humorous. It appears as though she uses this medium as a way to convey to her twitter followers that she does not take herself seriously and may be a reflection related to the fact that she may be afraid or unwilling to open up on social media. One specific example demonstrates this fact, where a photo posted by a friend shows Alexandra compared with a penguin. The comment she posts following this picture as follows, “My guys friends show me way too much love.” This makes it evident that she is clearly unaffected by the photo and somewhat amused by it. She makes the point that she does not take herself completely seriously and that she is unconcerned with jokes thrown at her by friends. The brevity and quantity of tweets makes it apparent that she is concerned less with the actual content of what she writes and more concerned with generating more tweets related to unimportant details she may come across in her everyday life.

Profile 5

My partner uses his selection of photos and statuses on Facebook to present his identity as a dancer who is very socially active. While his cover photo features him in a Stanford sweatshirt posing for a photo with Mythbuster Jamie Heineman as a part of his thinking matters course,  there is no other mention of schoolwork or specific classes anywhere else, and he is seldom seen wearing Stanford clothing outside of this picture. This is because within his social context, being a Stanford student is uniform; most of his immediate friends are also Stanford students and take similar classes, so there is no point in posting these things because they aren’t unique. Most of his recent posts are about Shifterz, a breakdance group that he is a part of. He tags other members of this group (or is tagged in other members’ posts amongst a handful of people), which suggests that these fellow members of the group form some of his core group of friends. It also highlights this unique and interesting skill that sets him apart from most of the rest of the Stanford population. His pictures almost all show him with friends or family at various social functions, such as Viennese Ball or other social gatherings. Outside of his carefully selected profile picture, there are few pictures of him alone, which shows one of the most unique things about him: his relationships with his friends and family. These elements combine to paint a picture of him as a very interesting, socially active, and unique person. 

Profile #4


My partner showcases herself as being culturally diverse, friendly, happy, funny, and easy-going on her profile. Her choices in movies and TV shows demonstrate a cross-cultural interest with the presence of movies from Japan and TV shows from Great Britain.  Her pictures mostly feature her with friends, unless they are a profile picture, and in these pictures with friends she is smiling and having fun in various settings. These demonstrate that she wants herself to be portrayed as friendly (or at least being close with her friends) and like she is having fun. These also illustrate that she wants to be seen as happy, which is also accomplished through the lack of complaining posts. Her sense of humor can be seen through posts that are funny at her own expense, such as jokes about her on the floor yelling. These jokes also indicate that she is very easy-going. She doesn't mind making fun of herself. In addition, many of her posts lack capitalization, also demonstrating a laid-back attitude that is cemented by the numerous number of Facebook "hacks" that remain on her wall from friends. In short, ______'s profile shows her as being a very warm, easy-going person.

Post #3

            BrutonGastor rarely makes posts or communicates with others on his Facebook profile. The most prominent displays on his profile are simply pictures of him with friends or pictures of him engaging in sports and hobbies. Due to his lack of textual comments on other’s profiles and lack of statuses, BrutonGastor’s Facebook profile presents the identity of someone who is too busy with his hobbies and social life to be active on Facebook. He achieves this by utilizing the visual rhetoric of his pictures.  All of BrutonGastor’s photos have common themes: hobbies, social gatherings, active life, etc. For instance, BrutonGastor’s profile picture is of him sitting on a bench in a park playing a guitar. This photo not only presents him engaging in his hobby but also displays him doing it outdoors, which is a place usually associated with activity and active life. In addition, his cover photo is him and many other friends decorated for a football game.

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Thu Ngo
Stanford University 
Class of 2017

Profile #2

X's Twitter acts as a chronological documentation of his interactions (both online and in "real life") as well as a selective use of memes and humour to act as selective quasi-social commentary. The account, in some senses, documents his association with aspects of popular culture and his presence in prevalent subcultures, evidencing a distinct frustration and anger coupled with a reproach for specific prevalent behaviours. It, at times, uses the medium of "the tweet" as an extension of ordinary human interactions, though meaning is instead mediated through removing pictures and phrases with established connotations and meanings from the very situations that give them that purpose. 

Facebook Rhetoric Analysis

Hope you get the reference :)

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Thu Ngo
Stanford University 
Class of 2017

Post


Profile #1

Annabelle enjoys spending time at the beach. Her recent pictures, likely from Spring break, are filled with her and her friends sporting bikinis in beautiful sunlit water. But that's only true on vacation. While at school we can see a different side of her social life—one filled with selfies of her and her friends often at parties and social gatherings. She's rarely alone in her pictures. Her Facebook profile shows the social side of herself, the side with many friends, and lots of cool places to go. Her friends and social life are the things she wants to display on Facebook. Her friends usually post the entries on her wall; she rarely posts anything. Annabelle has a vibrant social life, and it makes a clear presence on her Facebook profile