Social Media and Self Representation Dr Celia Lam Associate Lecturer, Communications and Media The School of Arts & Sciences
Arts & Sciences Study Areas Behavioural Science Communications and Media English Literature History Politics Sociology Theatre Studies
Social Media in a nut shell Source: http://www.facebook.com
Uses of Social Media Australian Internet users average 7hrs/pp on Social Media (SM), rated among Nielsen s 10 Internet-metered markets (2011) Communication, Social organisation Entertainment, Self Expression and Sharing with others News & Information, Activism Education
Popular types of SM Facebook Twitter Wordpress MySpace LinkedIn Tumblr Yahoo, Google YouTube Wikia Flickr Source: www.netstrategies.com/blog/social-media/use-social-media-to-cross-promote
Research related to SM SM research areas Social Science Branding and Marketing studies Anthropological and Ethnographical studies Cyber Psychology and Internet behaviour Teaching and Learning
Online Representation Established research on Identity formation Self: Internal construction of Persona Identity: Behavioural response to social situations Erving Goffman E.T Higgins David Snow and Leon Anderson David Altheide
Self Representation Erving Goffman (1959) Identity as Information Management Given: Direct, Verbal, Controlled Given off: Subtle, Contextual, Non-Verbal, Unconscious The Actor and the Audience Source: http://hans.wyrdweb.eu/tag/erving-goffman/
Self Representation E Higgins (1987) Actual Self: Does possess Ideal Self: Wishes to possess Ought Self: Should possess
Self Representation Snow and Anderson (1993) Multiple versions of Self Personal Identity: Inherent Social Identity: Enacted Source: http://triangulations.wordpress.com/2010/07/25/images-of-self/
Self Representation Adolescence and Young Adulthood Self differentiated from parent and individualised in social contexts Declarations of religious, political and relationship preference Alignment with social and media trends, likes and dislikes Emerging Adulthood (Arnett, 2000) refines the Self Source: www. cartoonstock.com
SM and Online Representation Online/Offline Identities Online and Offline Identities highly integrated (Ellison et al., 2007) Students presented Personal and Professional selves fully embedded in social situation of College or Workforce (DiMicco and Millen, 2007) Non-anonymous nature of SM and offline integration leads to a certain truthfulness (Zhao et al., 2008)
SM and Online Representation The High Visibility of Facebook Given and Given off Identity information Actor seen through Other eyes A Reflected Self Sources: www.metro.co.uk/news/829366-facebook-identity-fraud-top-10-tips-for-online-protection www.irishdigest.com/donegal-lad-had-facebook-identity-stolen/
SM and Online Representation Ethno-racial awareness (Grasmuck et al., 2009) Social behaviour highlighted Evidence of ethno-racial displays in online environments Evidence of ethno-racially motivated student activity and organisations Evidence of explicit ethno-racially motivated online identity expression
SM and Online Representation Australian studies Representations of Idealised self and identity management (Chester, 2004) SM use through lens of Situated cognition and Activity theory (Young, 2009) SM used as tools for socalisation practices passed between online and offline environments (Young, 2009)
Study: SM use among UNDA students Time spent on SM by hour Less 1 hr 2-3 hr 3-4 hr 4-5 hr 5-8 hr More 8 hr 1-2 hr
Study: SM use among UNDA students Type of SM used Type Frequency (%) Facebook 33% YouTube 27% Smart Phones 14% Twitter 8% Blogs 6% LinkedIn 3.5%
Study: SM use among UNDA students How SM was discovered SM Discovery Frequency (%) High School 47% Media 12% University 12% Online browsing 8% Older Siblings 8% Work 5%
Study: SM use among UNDA students Motivation for SM use Motivation Frequency (%) Entertainment 21% Keeping in touch 21% Passing time 18% Information 11% Education 7.5% Following trends 7%
References A. Chester, D. Bretherton, Impression management and identity online, in A. Joinson, K. McKenna, T. Postmes, U.D. Reips (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Internet Psychology, (2007) 223-236. D. Snow, L. Anderson, Down on Their Luck: A Study of Homeless Street People. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993. D. L Altheide, Identity and the Definition of the Situation in a Mass-Mediated Context, Symbolic Interaction. 23 (2000) 1 27. E. Goffman, The presentation of self in everyday life. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1959. E. T, Higgins, Self-discrepancy: A theory relating self and affect, Psychological Review. 94(3) (1987) 319 340. J. J. Arnett, Emerging adulthood: A theory of development from the late teens through the twenties, American Psychologist. 55 (2000) 469 480. J. M. DiMicco, D.R. Millen, Identity Management: Multiple Presentations of Self in Facebook, GROUP 07, (2007) Nov 4-7 K. Young, Online Social Networking: An Australian Perspective, International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Society, 7.1 (2009) 39-57. N.B. Ellison, C. Steinfield, & C. Lampe, The benefits of Facebook friends: Social capital and college students use of online social network sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication.12 (2007) article 1. S. Zhao, S. Grasmuck, J. Martin, Identity construction on Facebook: Digital empowerment in anchored relationships, Computers in Human Behavior 24 (2008) 1816-1836.
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