Self-presentation is best defined as impression management. Impressions and 'sign vehicles' are difficult to manage in face-to-face interactions because there is a loss of control over verbal and non verbal interactions. 'Sign vehicles’ are such things as clothing, speech pattern, facial impressions and bodily gestures. (Cheung, 2004) First impressions are formed at first glance that may include stereotypes based on such things as race and age. “But psychological research has revealed that whenever other people are able to observe our behavior directly or to receive information about it, we are careful about what type of impression we leave behind and we actively shape our self-presentation.” (Doring, 2002) To address problems around stereotypes and verbal response issues personal homepages are created as a work around. In addition to eliminating face-to-face issues, personal homepages are strategic, premeditated stages that allow an individual to create a presentation of them that is favorable to family, friends, and strangers. “One can express oneself extensively and without disturbance, falling back on various modalities and codes. Being represented on the Web with an attractive, information-rich, professional or humorous personal home page may enhance the impression we make on people who are not yet familiar with us personally.” (Doring, 2002) According to the article by Eillson, Heino, and Gibbs (2006) online self presentation enable an individual to express themselves more openly and honestly due to the asynchronous nature of CMC.
Personal homepages can also serve the purpose of identity construction. There are three domains of the self according to Higgins (1987) and they are the actual self, the ideal self, and the ought self. These ‘stages’ or personal homepages that are presented to others can open a door of creativity and a stable self-identity. Although with presenting ones self through such means may create a “multiple self” and it is believed that since a page can always be “under construction” it reflects the latest self-conception. (Doring, 2002) In a study conducted by Killoran (1998) 68% of 110 homepage owners change or work on their pages at least once a month. In creating a personal profile individuals have the tendency to construct an ideal self. For example, one may indicate that they are a few pounds lighter or that they participate in various activities that they rarely participate in such as hiking or jet skiing. This type of self expression by creating an ideal self is most commonly found on dating sites. The online dating environment is slightly different when describing self-presentation strategies. Due to an individual’s purpose of participating on dating sites to seek out an intimate relationships it involves a greater level of scrutiny. Not only are pictures and personal descriptions examined, like non dating personal homepages, other aspects are judged such as emails and links to other pages. In the dating environment future plans for a face-to-face interaction is intended. Therefore, this opens up the ability for an individual to post “potentially negative aspects of themselves online” therefore increasing the credibility of dating sites. (Ellison et al., p.419)
There are many aspects involving self-presentation that constructs self-identity. Critics and psychologists use multiple terms and concepts to describe the type of self-presentation that a person may use to identify oneself online such as patchwork identity, narrative identity, multiple self, dynamic self, dialogical self; and as mentioned in this paper, ideal self, actual self, and ought self and that is just to name a few. Oddly enough only 10% of society participates in the personal homepage environment. Due to the many positives that are associated with constructing pages such as minimized stereotypes, the ability to present oneself without pressure, and the ever reducing gap of the digital divide this number is constantly growing.
References
Ellison, N., Heino, R., Gibbs, J.(2006) Managing Impressions Online: Self-Presentation
Processes in the Online Dating Environment. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication,
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/118554151/PDFSTART
Doring, N (2006) Personal Home Pages on the Web: A Review of Research. Journal of
Computer Mediated Communication, volume 7. Retreived November 25, 2008 from
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/120837851/abstract
Cheung, C (2004) Identity Construction and Self-Presentation on Personal Homepages:
Emancipatory Potentials and Reality Constraints. Retrieved November 25, 2008 from
https://myasucourses.asu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab=courses&url=/bin/common/course.pl?course_id=_23899_1
4 comments:
The one thing that I never saw with the Chueng 2004 article is that it only talked online. And while I know that's the point, I can't help but wonder about online versus offline identities.
Out of curiosity, did any of your research indicate how many people managed to change their offline identities to match their online ones?
You discussed many aspects and situations of identity. One aspect that I remembered reading about was from Thurlow, Lengal, & Tomic (2004) and it concerned “symbolic markers” saying something about how you want to present yourself to others and how you feel you fit in with the group. I think that being concerned of how others perceive you is one of the main reasons for altering your identity. Do you think that this could be true?
In regards to my last post I meant to say I remeber reading that during this semester, but not in your paper. Hence the question at the end.
Sorry for the confusion
There are a lot of ways people create personaly online identities, but on thing that is not mentioned in this post is the after effects of disclosed personal information. Many bloggers and CMC participants “fail to realize there is no such thing as an eraser on the Internet” (Conlin, 2006, p. 1). The Internet eraser is correlated to the story of Josh Santangelo, who posted a story about a "bad drug trip" (Conlin, p.1). It may seem appropriate to post something as the time, but later it could come back and ruin a reputation or careers years after the information was posted.
Were there any further reports of a person's online identity being unfavorable and negatively effecting their "true" offline identity? Should we start Googling ourselves before we submit our resumes in case an employer searches our names?
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