Social implications of imformation
-
Upload
divya-karthikeyan -
Category
Documents
-
view
215 -
download
0
Transcript of Social implications of imformation
-
7/29/2019 Social implications of imformation
1/16
Facebook - self-presentation and Identity construction
In the era of Social networking sites, social connectedness has become increasingly
online and virtual. Face-to-face communications are starting to be taken over by the computer
mediated communication. It serves to the gratification of various personal and social needs such
as keeping in touch with friends, sharing information about oneself and learning about social
events (Tosun 2012). A qualitative study found that members increase their social productivity
by re-establishing connections with lost friends, and viewing friends through their online profile
(Dwyer 2007). This brings us to an important aspect of virtualization, the creation and
maintenance of an online persona, which is not bound by restrictions that a conventional face-to-
face communication might have. This online platform provides the user with the ability to
choose what to portray in his/her online identity. In a conventional social interaction users
choose to use one or many of their identities based on the situation. For example, a user might
have multiple identities such as a husband, father, son, brother etc. He chooses to use one or
many of his identities depending on the social context he is in. This paper will focus on the need
for self-presentation on online platforms as an act of bridging the socio-technical gap and discuss
interaction between the technical feasibility of SNS (Social networking sites) and social needs of
users. It will further address the types of self-presentation and user motives to use digital
persona. The adaptation of this feature by various social groups distinguished by gender and age
is studied to analyze the relationship between a technology and society.
Social networking sites as a Socio technical system
A social networking site is a socio technical system comprising of users and technology.
Users pursue a goal and must therefore interact with others through technology. The interaction
-
7/29/2019 Social implications of imformation
2/16
with others brings in the social aspect (Coenen et al. 2009). When technology is unable to meet
the needs of the social dimension it is termed as the social-technical gap. The socialtechnical
gap is the divide between what we know we must support socially and what we can support
technically (Ackerman 2000). This gap is caused by two factors: The difficulty in accurately
capturing social requirements such as privacy, trust, self-presentation and in creating a cognitive
model for these social requirements (Dwyer 2007). The interaction between technology and
social requirements constantly results in a coevolution as the technology tries to catch up to the
social requirements and society adapts to the technology that does not leverage itself to provide
100% required functionality.
The primary detail required to analyze a social technical system is to assess its social
needs. In our case: identity construction. For many years, people on the Internet have gone
without an online profile. People used the Internet as a source of information and a platform to
communicate to others. As social interaction began to rise on the Internet, the need for self-
identity and social profile were also on the rise. The main reason being that the ability to evaluate
another persons identity is critical if any communication is to ensue (Coenen et al. 2009). When
communication comes into picture, users would want to gauge the identity of the viewers with
whom they are sharing information. The online persona or identity creation began in anonymous
environments such as chat rooms and bulletin boards where users communicated without
knowing the true identity of another. This anonymity steered users to engage in play-act at being
someone else (Zhao et al. 2008). It did not seem much of an issue with anonymous platforms.
With the advent of online dating, users began to look for trust and privacy. The results from a
study suggested that people acted differently in such environments than they did in other online
settings. This was an important finding, for it indicated that the online world was not monolithic,
-
7/29/2019 Social implications of imformation
3/16
and online self-presentations varied according to the nature of the settings (Zhao et al. 2008).
The study results also indicate that the identity construction behavior varies between the initial
anonymous environments and less anonymous ones like Facebook.Thus self-presentation began
to take a new form on less anonymous platforms such as online dating websites and social
networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn.
Identity construction and self-presentation
The question of identity, what it is and how it is constructed, is difficult to answer in
everyday life. How does the process of identity construction change when the complexity of
online social structures is added? The study below will address the idea of identity construction
in an online setting and how it is influenced by the society.
The first college version of Facebook required the use of a registered official campus
email address linked to the Facebook profile (Zhao et al. 2008). This created an almost perfectly
non-anonymous platform since the real name of users was displayed along with some personal
information derived from their student account. This provided the trust factor that users wanted
to see during their online communication events. Since Facebook was initially provided as a
means of socializing within the campus, its functionality was restricted to a specific user type.
Users did not have the need to edit their profile as it already had important personal information.
As Facebook began gaining popularity, the need to cater to users outside the registered campus
circle gave birth to the online identity construction/self-presentation feature in Facebook. When
users outside the campus circle came in contact with the network, they could not be verified with
a campus profile. This created the opportunity for an identity construction by the user to choose
what traits he wants to present to his viewer community.
-
7/29/2019 Social implications of imformation
4/16
User groups and their identity construction and self-presentation strategies
Self-presentation is composed of expressions given (information that is intended) and
expressions given off (information that leaks out) (Goffman 1959). Users intend to showcase
some information to their audience, but there are certain traits that may leak into their self-
presentation in spite of efforts to hide them. Users have control over their identity towards
specific audience. Goffman in The presentation of self in everyday life revolves his views
around the belief that every human has two behaviors on stage and off stage. He compares the
social interactions of humans to that of a theatrical performance. The stage is analogous to a
social context and the actors are the people present in a society. The on stage space is where the
positive aspect of the self and desired impressions are highlighted. The back stage region is
where individuals can be their self without having to worry about their identity in society. This is
like the time a person gets with himself where he does not have to portray to have certain traits,
nor perform for viewers. The space is entirely for him where he is his true actual self. In a social
network, an actor has to perform on stage everyday as he interacts with the audience and co-
actors. According to Goffman, the social actor has the ability to choose his props and audience.
His only goal is to keep coherent with the various stage performances, which is done by the
interaction with other actors. When actors move from role to role and switch between settings, it
creates the need for multiple identities The true-self back stage and the multiple on stage
persona. Drawing from the actor stage interaction, the on stage space is analogous to the Internet
where the actor is constantly interacting with other actors. The actor can chose his identity in the
online space and control which traits are visible to the other social actors in that network. The on
stage space is considered to be for self-idealization where no negative traits are exposed. The
-
7/29/2019 Social implications of imformation
5/16
actor on stage performs in a manner adhering to social norms and rules (Goffman 1959). We
have thus identified the first user group based on their motive to use an online identity. The first
user group of identity construction is a person who turns to an online identity to self-idealize and
to hide negative traits. User groups are a key deciding factor in the acceptance and diffusion of a
new technology/feature (Bijker 1997).
Whilst the view of Goffman states that the backstage is for ones true actual self and
idealization is highlighted on stage, there are contrary arguments. People find it difficult to
portray their true self on a face-to-face interaction especially when it is against social norms and
expectations. Those aspects could be more easily expressed through ones online profile since
their physical appearance is hidden (Tosun 2012). True self involves ones actually existing
characteristics but are not fully expressed in social life. Individuals need to express their true self
in a social environment. When they are unable to do so, they look for alternate frameworks in
which they can express those traits. The study by Tosun in his Motives for Facebook use and
expressing true self on the Internet suggested that individuals that are more likely to showcase
their true traits are more prospective to use Facebook often since they tend to look at this as a
chance to initiate new inter personal relationships (Tosun 2012). Their identity construction will
be on lines to portray a characteristic they are not comfortable showcasing in a conventional
social setting. This is the second user group based on motives and users look to identity creation
as a second chance to be oneself whilst hiding their physical appearance.
Facebook is used in 2 ways: to maintain already anchored offline relationships and to
create new ones online. According to a study conducted byZhao, Grasmuck, & Martin across 63
Facebook accounts including a sample of men and women hailing from 5 different ethnic groups,
modes of identity creation strategies were based on the extent to which visible and verbal
-
7/29/2019 Social implications of imformation
6/16
techniques were involved. Self-presentation on Facebook varied from implicit to explicit identity
claims. The farthest end of the continuum, the implicit identity claims are predominantly visual
involving the use of photographs with friends and social involvement in a community of friends
by numerous wall posts and comments. The user aims at generating the desired impression on
their viewers by showing without telling. They are more interested in depicting the depth of their
social ties by portraying interaction and bonding in every communication they make.
The continuum of implicit and explicit identity claims on Facebook(Zhao et al. 2008).
The second cluster of users is the cultural self. Such users engage in enumerative
cultural description and tend to portray details about themselves by listing their hobbies, favorite
food, tv shows, movies they have watched, places visited etc. They do not implicitly claim their
identity by a bunch of pictures, neither do they explicitly describe about themselves. Rather they
give an intermediate level of detail about things they do or like. They expect the viewer to
conclude on their personality based on the information they provide. The third mode is the
explicit verbal description of self. This type of user directly introduces themselves to their
viewers by self-description (Zhao et al. 2008).
Another result of this study is the type of identity claims that users make. Being popular
among friends was a claim that was present on almost all user profiles. Majority of the users
had no solo pictures at all or had pictures along with friends indicating the effort to construct a
group social identity. Well-roundedness was another characteristic to emphasize the interest in
-
7/29/2019 Social implications of imformation
7/16
hobbies and other activities. The last was thoughtfulness. The impression of possessing this
trait was achieved through the use of positive thought-provoking quotes. While the non-
anonymity of the environment does seem to make people more realistic and honest in their
self-presentation, the reduction ofgating obstacles in the online setting enables the users to
stretch the truth a bit (Strano 2008). This re-emphasizes the claim by Goffman about trying
to idealize on an on stage setting.
The online identity as the social actor creates it, is comprised of anything the user wants
to portray. The first aspect that reaches the eyes of the viewer is the profile image. The
qualitative analysis of the choices people make while choosing their Facebook profile image
would throw light on additional user groups based on gender and age differences. Profile images
are a form of implicit identity construction.
Women tend to change the appearance of their websites more often than men do. Also Women
are more likely to display a photograph of them smiling in an online dating forum. This may not
apply directly to Facebook since the primary purpose of Facebook is not dating for more than
16% of the population but can be extended to Facebook identities (Strano 2008). From personal
observation I see that women are more interested in finding out how popular they are based on
the number of likes they receive for their pictures and posts, that drives them towards a more
dynamic profile page. Men are driven by highlighting an achievement or special event and hence
have lower dynamics on their profiles.
One interesting observation based on age differences is that Younger participants
constructed their identities through visually elaborate and individualized profiles, while older
adolescents preferred an aesthetically plain profile appearance that highlighted social
connections through "links to others' profiles and by posting photos of the peer group socializing
-
7/29/2019 Social implications of imformation
8/16
offline (Strano 2008). The reason for this being that older population probably already has
strong anchored relationships offline and just want to keep in touch with them online, whereas
the younger generation is also on the lookout for new connections that creates the visually
elaborate profiles. There is clearly a distinction between users of different gender and age group.
Below are some graphical representations of results from the study:
Gender based variations
Age based variations
Original data available in Appendix A (Strano 2008).
The percentage of women who have their profile images showcase friends or special
events is much higher than men giving proof that their profile tends to me more dynamic.
-
7/29/2019 Social implications of imformation
9/16
(Women 19.8%, Men -8.9%) (Strano 2008). Though there are some traits that seem to be
common among men and women, the profile image being a depiction of how attractive and fun
loving they are seems more essential to women. Users separated by gender and age differences
have different motives and needs that have to be accommodated in the design of a feature.
Users may not always have a single self-presentation online. They may use more than
one SNS (Social Networking site), which creates the necessity to manage multiple online
personas. Another type of multiple identity management comes into play when the user has 2 or
more audience groups on the same platform. As the user moves from one stage of life to another,
they interact with people from different phases of their life (DiMicco & Millen 2007). It is
common that users what to share only a specific part of their life to specific audience. The users
have the capacity to choose what traits they want to explicitly show off to their audience base
(Miller 1995). Drawing from personal experience, I have friends from my school, undergraduate
and graduate phases of life. There are some pieces of information that I may want only my
school friends to be aware of. This creates a multiple identity management on a single Facebook
account since I want different friends to view different pieces of information about myself.
Based on a study of 63 corporate Facebook user profiles the 3 types of indiviuals were
identified in a context of multiple identity management. They are: Reliving the college days,
Dressed to Impress and Living in the business world (DiMicco & Millen 2007). The
Reliving college days individuals primarily use Facebook to stay in touch with their college
friends. They do not have to manage their identity for the corporate world since their primary
motive to use Facebook is to keep in touch with their college mates. Their only primary target
audience is friends from college and hence would not require an alternate identity. They tend to
carry the identity construction that was made during the initial use of Facebook as a socializing
-
7/29/2019 Social implications of imformation
10/16
platform on campus. The information about their corporate space is very limited and could
probably be thought of as mere information to their old friends rather than a split corporate
identity. The other two types are managing their self-presentation to some extent. This is because
they have at least two sets of viewers: Professional colleagues and old friends.
The user groups discussed above are summarized as follows:
1. Users who look to self idealize on Facebook and hide their negative traits2. Users who tend to use Facebook as a chance to show their true self which they are unable
to do in a conventional social set up
3.
User types based on identity claim
a. Implicit user who shows rather than tellingb. Explicit user who tells via self descriptionc. Cultural self who is an intermediate
4. User groups based on Profile imagesa. Separated by genderb. Separated by age
5. Based on multiple identity managementa. Reliving college daysb. Dressed to Impressc. Living in the Business world
User groups influence on Technology
While the diffusion and acceptance of a new technology largely depends on these groups,
they also form the basis for any new or future change that is ought to happen in the field (Bijker
-
7/29/2019 Social implications of imformation
11/16
1997). The identity construction on Facebook has a variety of user groups and hence would
require design flexibility to satisfy all users while providing the essential functionality. The
evolution of online identity construction as a feature has been changing as the new user groups
had fresh needs. The design features and privacy controls lend it to be used by diverse user
groups in specific ways. While the users groups need to attain closure (Social groups see no
problem with the new feature) to eliminate the need for alternative designs, they also help in
changing present design to accommodate user needs. For example, initially Facebook was meant
to be used by college students with a registered email address, but as the target group expanded,
there were some design changes made to accommodate the needs of new users. The need for a
campus email address was no longer enforced. The user groups thus play a vital role in the
evolution of a technology and the way it changes over the years (Bijker 1997). The profile image
and other contents on the Facebook profile can be have a specific set of audience that can be
controlled by the user. But in the current design, the cover image is by default visible to
everyone and cannot be controlled. Over the years we could expect a change or ability to control
this feature. As more people start using their cover photo as an aspect of their online identity, a
need for privacy and trust would arise thereby causing design changes. Technology would thus
keep evolving as the user base expands and as the users increase, their diverse motives alter the
technological feature to accommodate the new social needs.
Identity as a product of sociocultural context
While technology is shaped by social needs and behavior of its users, the user traits in the
first place are also influenced by the sociocultural context in which they prevail (Baumeister &
Mark 1996). Identity itself is a characteristic that is affected by the social setting. Adaptation
-
7/29/2019 Social implications of imformation
12/16
may be the best way to conceptualize the complex, multilateral relationship between individual
identity and sociocultural context, because it recognizes the causal importance of culture yet
also recognizes individual choice and change. This argument is developed by considering how
several historical changes in the sociocultural context (i.e. increasing freedom of choice,
changed interpersonal patterns, loss of traditional value bases, and rising tension between desire
for uniqueness and difficulty of achieving it) have led to changes in the nature of identity.
Although identity adapts to changes in its sociocultural context, these changes sometimes create
new problems, including the specially problematic nature of modern selfhood. (Baumeister &
Mark 1996). Identity is not a product of the society, but is influenced by the sociocultural
context. Also from another study results identity is not an individual characteristic;
it is not an expression of something innate in a person, it is rather a social product,
the outcome of a given social environment and hence performed differently in varying contexts.
Depending on the characteristics of the environment in which they find themselves,
individuals will choose to claim identities that can help them better situate within the given
social environment. True selves, real selves, and hoped-for possible selves are
products of different situations rather than characteristics of different individuals (Zhao et al.
2008).
Technology and the society A broader perspective
The interaction between online user identity and the technology that supports it will be
always interconnected and influence each other. The difficulty in accurately capturing social
requirements such as privacy, trust and self-presentation and in creating a cognitive model for
social requirements would cause the interaction between the technology and society to stay alive
-
7/29/2019 Social implications of imformation
13/16
since this creates a socio technical gap (Dwyer 2007). The technology is unable to accurately
capture social needs, which results in a product that does not accommodate the need completely.
As a result, a new technology is developed for a user need, the society interacts with it and tries
to adapt to it. This in turn alters the behavior of the society and new needs are born. This process
will be a continuous one, which will lead to the co evolution of technology and society. These
two processes will go hand in hand and cannot function on their own since neither of them is in
isolation. Thus the society adapts to the evolution of any new technology and that technology
shapes the society that created it.
Word count: 3640
References
1. Zhao, Shanyang, Sherri Grasmuck, and Jason Martin. "Identity construction onFacebook: Digital empowerment in anchored relationships." Computers in human
behavior 24.5 (2008): 1816-1836.
2. Goffman, Erving. "The presentation of self in everyday life." (1959): 1-17.
-
7/29/2019 Social implications of imformation
14/16
3. Tosun, Leman Pnar. "Motives for Facebook use and expressing true self on theInternet." Computers in Human Behavior (2012).
4. Strano, Michele M. "User descriptions and interpretations of self-presentation throughFacebook profile images." Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on
Cyberspace 2.2 (2008): 5.
5. Dwyer, Catherine. "Task technology fit, the social technical gap, and social networkingsites." Proceedings of the 13th Americas conference on information systems. Accessed.
Vol. 2. No. 10. 2007.
6.
Coenen, Tanguy, Wouter Van den Bosch, and Veerle Van der Sluys. "An analysis of the
socio-technical gap in social networking sites." Handbook of research on socio-technical
design and social networking systems. Hershey, Pennsylvania: IGI (2009).
7. Baumeister, Roy F., and Mark Muraven. "Identity as adaptation to social, cultural, andhistorical context." Journal of Adolescence 19.5 (1996): 405-416.
8. DiMicco, Joan Morris, and David R. Millen. "Identity management: multiplepresentations of self in facebook." Proceedings of the 2007 international ACM
conference on Supporting group work. ACM, 2007.
9. Miller, Hugh. "The presentation of self in electronic life: Goffman on the Internet."Embodied knowledge and virtual space conference. Vol. 9. 1995.
10.Baumeister, Roy F., and Mark Muraven. "Identity as adaptation to social, cultural, andhistorical context."Journal of Adolescence 19.5 (1996): 405-416.
11.Ackerman, Mark S. "The intellectual challenge of CSCW: the gap between socialrequirements and technical feasibility." HumanComputer Interaction 15.2-3 (2000):
179-203.
-
7/29/2019 Social implications of imformation
15/16
12. Bijker, Wiebe E. Of bicycles, bakelites, and bulbs: Toward a theory of sociotechnicalchange. The MIT Press, 1997.
Appendix A(Strano 2008)
-
7/29/2019 Social implications of imformation
16/16