AMANDA HYNAN FINAL THESIS PDF

in Californian schools. Of those who answered questions regarding typical internet
use, 49% reported they never pretended to be anyone but themselves and 41% said
they had done it a couple of times, and of the remaining 10%, some said occasionally,
a few said pretty often and a very small number said all the time. Pretending
behaviour was usually to appear older, occasionally to be of another gender or
sexuality and in some cases to be a celebrity. The majority of those who admitted to
pretending did so within the physical company of a friend and their motivation was
usually for a joke. Only 2% of those who said they pretended did so in order to
explore a new identity or self.
Zhao, Grasmuck and Martin (2008) investigated identity construction on Facebook.
Within their literature review they discuss the work of Stone (1981) who, in similarity
with the ideas of Goffman (1959), suggests individuals make ‘announcements’ which
are then ‘placed’ by others and identity is established when the two coincide (Stone,
1981, cited by Zhao et al. 2008). Their paper is part of a wider study that carried out
content analysis on the Facebook profile data of 63 university students. The
conclusion drawn was that a Facebook identity is formed around a continuum ranging
from the implicit visual end where the self is portrayed as a social actor
predominantly through photographs, the ‘watch me’ self which effectively shows
without telling. At the other end of the continuum is the explicit narrative ‘first person
self’ where descriptions are used to illuminate information. The mid-point is where
Zhao et al. place the enumerative (or ‘self as consumer’), the space on Facebook
where an individual lists what they like in terms of cultural material (music, books,
films, etc). Users also control their audiences through filters on the website but Zhao
et al. suggest that despite some deviance most people tend to present a ‘hoped for’ self
that is socially desirable. Among other things they conclude
“the Internet provides new resources and opportunities for identity production
that can be used to overcome some limitations inherent in face-to-face
situations” (p. 1831)
They suggest these ‘digital selves’ are real in many ways to Facebook users and can
enhance a person’s self-image and increase chances to make connections in the offline
world that have concrete consequences. They also suggest being able to perform acts
of resistance through a Facebook profile and use the ‘hoped for’ self to influence and
48