Week Two in KCB206 centred on how and why we construct our identity online. Social networking sites offer a platform by which we can select, contrive and omit signals, which come together to form our online identity.
Pearson (2009) uses the analogy of actors playing a role. She says that online the performer is “disembodied and electronically re-embodied through signs they choose to represent themselves”. Donath and Boyd (2004) talk about signalling theory, explaining that each signal we select represents an underlying quality. What differs between the two approaches is that Pearson (2009) suggests our online identity has no boundaries, while Donath and Boyd say the public nature of our online connections creates accountability for our behaviour and encourages an “honest self presentation”.
I believe that the reality falls in the middle ground of these two approaches. Though I don’t construct a false identity, I do censor some aspects, while highlighting other aspects of my identity that I consider the most positive. For example, my Facebook statuses reveal my sense of humour, my “check-ins” reveal what type of social scene I most relate to, and anything that I sense might be damaging to my constructed identity I can delete. From my own experience of social networking, I see the process of online identity construction more as a personal public relations tool rather than a performance.
Image from Littlejohncomics.com
Reference List
Pearson, Erika. 2009. “All the World Wide Web’s a stage: The performance of identity in online social networks.” First Monday 14(3-2). Accessed March 11, 2010 via Course Materials Database.
Donath, J and Boyd, D. 2004. “Public Displays of Connection.” BT Technology Journal 22(4): 71-82. Accessed March 11, 2010 via Course Materials Database.
http://littlejohncomics.blogspot.com/2009_01_01_archive.html. Accessed March 13, 2010.
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