I know what it means no need to paste from Wikipedia, you missed the "... through underhanded, deceptive, or even abusive tactics."
So I don't see how being genuine is manipulation, in fact I'm genuinely baffled you can take that stance.

And yes I try to be more confident around anyone, it's all about improving myself. I may not be there yet but if I can be a more genuine confident person, great! Don't you want that too?

Being confident and expressing my self is not manipulative, in fact it's the opposite. If you're truthful you'll express weaknesses you have and opinions which might not conform to social norms. I just told a group of workmates I bought a book on the Spanish civil war, the old me would have shied away from this in case I seemed geeky but i'm being truthful with them and not manipulating them.