Lecture 3 - Social media and identity

The term 'social media' refers to media that is used for social interaction. Sites such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Live Journal, etc fall under the umbrella of media used for this purpose. As an avid user of the social media site, Facebook, I find it somewhat alarming that identities can be reconstructed and deconstructed to suit the identity goal of the individual. What I mean by this concept is portrayed through the cartoon caption, 'No one knows you're a dog on the internet'. The lack of face to face contact and 'anonymity' provided courtesy of the internet, allows any person that has the cognitive ability to access social media sites and remember a username and password free reign to invent themselves any way they see fit. As a parent, I have been briefed countless times on the ease at which false identities can be created to prey on the vulnerability of the young and naive.

The suggestion that people can reinvent their identities using social media sites does not always refer to a dramatic change in identity, for example, a middle age man posing as a teenager in order to woo teenage girls. It could be as simple as my own experiences involving the careful selection of material I choose to display on my Facebook page. Posting photos, videos and status updates that illustrate the aspects of my life that I wish to reveal to the masses; painting the picture of an adventurous, fun-loving person, whose life is a whole lot more exciting than the stone cold truth. The persuasiveness of my Facebook identity is sustained and perpetuated by the fact that only a handful of my so-called Facebook 'Friends' are actually my real-life friends, the remainder are limited to virtual path crossing on Facebook.

A quote from the article, 'Studying Internet Studies Through the Ages', aptly describes why identities can be bolstered or altered:

'while all this razzle-dazzle connects us electronically, it disconnects us from each other, having us “interfacing” more with computers and TV screens than looking in the face of our fellow human beings.' [Texas broadcaster Jim Hightower quoted in Fox, 1995, p. 12].

Thus, affording people greater opportunity to invest more time in creating identities online, rather than in the physical world.

Wellman, B. (2008, November 20). Studying internet studies through the ages. Draft of a Contribution to the Blackwell Handbook of Internet Studies (2009). Version 1b, University of Toronto.