Facebook has changed our ideas about exposure. For the frequent users of this version of social network, this change is evident. As a recent phenomenon, the functions of Facebook’s status walls and like buttons have changed the way we allow others to see ourselves, whether intentionally or not.

Why don’t we behave in similar ways in real life like we do on Facebook? Reasons include convenience, timeliness, coverage, social norms and the increasing lack of interpersonal communication in today’s world.

You might like drifting pictures or be looking for Holden spares, and only find out if I post a link to my Facebook page. In this way, Facebook not only serves to tell me what you like, but allows me to identify directly with you

Openbook is a website that aggregates status updates from Facebook’s gives you access to all the status updates it can pick up from Facebook’s half a billion users. With Openbook, even a person not registered to Facebook can have a grand tour of what an average Facebook user usually likes the world to read. Some mundane (“hate laundry”), some philosophical (“How do you know you are not living in the Matrix?”), and some too revealing (I am cheating on you and loving it!”), but the general sense is that many of these are not usually something you can come across on a day to day basis.

Then there is also the Like button, which has become the labels we attach to ourselves in hopes people will understand us better. We can speculate that whenever a user chooses to click that Like button it is done out of genuine affection given that in most cases they have nothing to gain for them to do so.

To what purpose? Given the lack of financial rewards, having Facebook to publish our list of “Likes” is an expression of our need to let people understand us more so than ever, to a degree of openness not usually encountered in reality.

Ultimately, the population’s psychological requirement to be heard can be used to to your advantage in building your brand. Facebook should not be underestimated in its power in today’s marketing environment.

To see an example of a Facebook page that is successfully interacting with its users, check out NZ Performance Car or Drift Legends.