Who needs enemies, when you've got friends on Facebook?

• Author: Peters, Charles
• Position: Tilting at windmills - Brief article

The axiom that has long governed local TV news that "if it bleeds it leads" does not apply to social networks. On Facebook, it's the good news that leads. Indeed, the news is often a little too good to be true.

According to a study by Dr. Jonah Berger, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, the news that people share about themselves on Facebook is strongly slanted toward making their own image. "In most oral conversations," we tend to say the first thing that comes to mind, according to Dr. Berger, "but when you write something, you have the time to construct and refine what you say, so it involves more self-presentation." The result, writes John...