How do you express your digital self online? The internet, becoming the fastest growing medium for communication and entertainment, has produced new ways in which we communicate, explore identity, self express, and view entertainment. The popularity of online activity, virtual interaction, and communities has produced a new field of study, cybercultural studies or internet studies (Silver, 2004). An interesting topic internet researchers have explored is online identities.Online identity research includes studying online self-presentation, online identity experimentation, and internet public relations (PR). Studying online self-presentation focuses on an individual’s presentation style in a personal website, blog, or in chat rooms. The presentation style and the amount of details displayed online gives the observer a great deal of information about the presenter (Marcus, Machileck & Schütz, 2006). Research on online identity experimentation includes internet based experiments with or changes in age, gender, or personality (Lina, Hummert, & Harwood, 2004). Personality experiments include an individual experimenting with his or her extraversion, emotional presentation, and physical appearance (Marcus et al, 2006). Internet public relations research covers litigation public relations and image management, which explores the use of websites that attempt to improve or maintain the reputation of a public figure or corporation (Reber, Gower, & Robinson, 2006). Exploring these topics give insight to the human side of the technological cyberculture of the internet.
References:
Lina, M. C., Hummert, M. L., & Harwood, J. (2004) Representation of age identities in on-line discourse. Journal of Aging Studies, 18, 261-74.
Marcus, B., Machileck, F., & Schütz, A. (2006). Personality in cyberspace: Personal web sites as media for personality expressions and impressions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90, 1014-1031.
Reber, B. H., Gower, K. K., Robinson, J. A. (2006). The internet and litigation public relations. Journal of Public Relations Research, 18, 23-44.
Silver, D. (2004). Internet/cyberculture/digital culture/new media/fill-in-the-blank studies. New Media & Society, 6, 55-64.
3 comments:
Do you think with more and more dating, history, e-mails, and other adult useful sites that the cybercultural will turn from the younger era of instant messaging, profile pages such as myspace and facebook will turn to the older generation?
Why are people drawn to having an "Internet alter ego?" Is it an insecurity or ego issue? In other words, why are people likely to embellish truths to appear "better" online? This is not just relevant for Internet dating or chat rooms, but even on sites like MySpace or Facebook.
Do you think that identity experimentation is acceptable in digital communication? And how do false identities affect online dating and others sites like Myspace/Facebook etc?
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