FeistyFemale

19/09/2007 In All things 2.0 by feistyfemale

Virtual spaces and social platforms have provided users with the ultimate power — the power of self-presentation and the power of self-disclosure. Ultimately, it is the power to redefine who you are as an individual by defining your beliefs, values and lifestyle online.

Let’s face it, virtual space is grounded in the social, bodily and cultural experiences of its users. The South African culture, for example, is represented online through media, corporate websites, blogging and social networks, confirming that sociability and cultural experiences are transmitted or represented in an online environment. It therefore makes sense to assume that users are also representing themselves accurately and honestly online.

Online presentation has a multitude of facets — too many for one blog post! For the sake of simplicity, I will exclude topics such as online dating presentation, career or professional presentation, personality deception, gender switching and the discrepancies between real and fantasy selves. Instead, I will focus on self-presentation in social networks.

So how do people portray themselves online? Is it with honesty or do users create an online persona separate from their real-world selves?

Virtual spaces such as newsgroups, chat rooms, MUDs (multi-user dungeons), Second Life, internet dating sites and social platforms such as Facebook and MySpace all allow spaces for the creation of a profile or online identity. Apart from social networking platforms, most virtual spaces on the net allow users to identify themselves by means of pseudonyms, which reveal varying amounts of personally identifiable information. By means of online identity, people are free to redefine themselves as they wish as they can construct their virtual form and identity.

I believe that the anonymity and distance behind the screen rarely seem to facilitate the creation of a fantasy online self, but act as a foundation of building trustworthy relationships that transcend to real-world associations.

The key reasons for this statement are:

Self-awareness: Users consciously create a profile. By compiling a profile, users are forced to address basic questions, values and preferences. This promotes users’ self-awareness and, ultimately, how they define and view themselves. Users are acutely aware of how they portray themselves online.

Disinhibition: Even in cases where real identity is used without anonymity on platforms such as Facebook and MySpace, users are more likely to feel at ease portraying accurate profiles due to disinhibition. Distance does, indeed, ease pressure! Less social pressure encourages open, honest communication as direct rejection is drastically minimised. Issues such as physical appearance and self-image can be avoided and are not considered as important as it would have been in a real-life setting.

Anonymity: The anonymity that some social platforms (like internet dating platforms) provide, along with the distance from real-world encounters, facilitates truthful presentation. Users feel comfortable portraying themselves honestly online, as it is free from real-world criticism and direct scrutiny, as would have been evident in a real-world encounter through body language and direct feedback.

Transference into a real-world setting — users generally meet or network outside online encounters as well. It would make sense to be honest in profiles as online communities are not acting as an internet culture by themselves, but are extending and opening opportunities to shape the contours of social life.

Never before have users actually been forced to scrutinise themselves to such an extent. Despite the normal percentage of users that would present themselves through rose-tinted glasses, their presentation of themselves seem remarkably honest, because it is virtually impossible to hide your true self in the way you communicate, the language you employ, the answers that you give and the statements that you make. On the whole, the online persona is pretty close to the real-world self.

* First published on Thought Leader on 19 September 2007.