Social Networks
Running head: SELF-PRESENTATION IN ONLINE 1
SELF-PRESENTATION IN ONLINE 5
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Self-presentation in Online
Students Name
Institution of Learning
Self-presentation in Online
The world is changing every day and people are changing with it. They demanding more and more new means of communication and flexible modern social structures.
Social networks have become a part of a new reality amd a new global world; this phenomenon opened almost limitless possibilities for human interaction and communication between people.
Social networks help people all over the globe to find like-minded people, who might become their friends.
For people that are disabled, not socially adapted, and modest, social networks have become the only option to state their presence in the world. In addition, the problem of loneliness, which was previously often unsolvable, is partially solved. With the new conditions of life, there is a new way of thinking, a new form of communication; therefore, a new, bright, concise language of communication.
Life in social networks is entirely real: the emotions that people feel communicating on the Internet is oftentimes absolutely identical to those they feel when they engage in face-to-face communication.
Often, online chat is even sincere: many people have easier time expressing their opinion on any questions on the network, rather than in the real life; this is possible because of the freedom that social networks give. In fact, many users disclose their personality and information about themselves; however, this fact does not stop them from feeling truthful emotions.
Online networks completely neglects real social status, age, location, and other variables, which in real life may impact communication in a negative way and lead to social anxiety and exclusion.
Ergo, social networks become alternate universes, in which, despite intersection with reality, everything is based on freedom and equality.
Such spike in the use of social networks is caused by peoples preconceived notions, which lead to depression and anxiety. Innovation of social networks has become possible due to such effect as critical mass. Critical mass is point at which enough individuals in a system have adopted an innovation so that the innovations further rate of adoption becomes self-sustaining (L.S. Goulet, lecture, February 25, 2015). Unless critical mass effect occurs, adoption of innovation will be very sluggish.
Self-presentation in the social networks is a tricky subject. One cannot know who is he talking to, even if personal information is perfect. Self-presentation is basically a marketing instruments, which helps people sell themselves to other people. So what is self-presentation? Self-presentation is defined as the process of packaging and editing the self in order to create a certain impression upon the audience (Hancock & Toma, 2009, p.368). Hancock (2009) implies that self-presentation has two most common ways of origin: self-enhancement and authenticity. Most of the time, people use self-enhancement to put their best foot forward: using the best pictures of them, hyperbolizing personal information and talents, choosing music and movies that are popular, so that they receive the most powerful social response. Authenticity is intrinsic need to be honest, but not honest to other people. People who choose authenticity road have a strong need to be honest to themselves. I think that another strategy is present too, though it is not that popular. It is called self-deprivation. This origin is often used by people whose self-esteem is in the gutter and they deliberately diminish their values to withdraw themselves from social contacts. This is more of a psychological issue and needs special treatment.
There is also a term called selective self-presentation. Main features of selective self-presentation are self-presentation is selective above and beyond what it would be F2F; made possible by the textual nature of CMC, which makes messages more editable; slowed temporal dynamics; minimizes expression of nonverbal cues, making self-presentation online less subject to unintentional cues; in CMC, more expressions of self are given rather than given off (L.S. Goulet, lecture, February 4, 2015).
Goulet (2015) also presents motivations people experience to present accurate and genuine data regarding their online identities. These motivations are accountability, internal desire to be honest, etc. One of the main reasons people provide authentic data on their online profiles is inward reward mechanisms, which activate the notion that people do not want to think of themselves and to be thought of by other people as fakes and liars.
Self-presentation issues are often present in online dating. Most people think that lie in the social profile is the biggest disadvantage. However, when face-to-face meeting occurs, lies are often minor and not detrimental. Hancock (2009) came to conclusion that profile photographs were frequently judged inaccurate as participants balanced the tensions of self-enhancement and authenticity. Indeed, these data suggest that the online profile photograph is an excellent vehicle for putting ones best face forward (Hancock & Toma, 2009, p. 384). Main takeaways from Hancocks study are: participants believed it is relatively acceptable to lie in online dating profile, weight was most often variable that people lied about while age was the least, men tended to overstate their height more, women tended to underreport weight, lying about relationship is seen as least acceptable.
To sum up, this information and communication resource is certainly a great future. Year after year, social networking is expanding the boundaries of their actions and have opened up new possibilities. But all should be measured. We are real people, not robots.\. Therefore, the real life with smiles, pats on the shoulder, a firm handshake, a kiss, will not be possibly replaced, even with the most popular social network. Self-presentation is harder to fake in the real world; moreover, there is no point in faking it. People should live their real lives and not think too much how to put their best face forward in social media to create powerful social response and acquire a lot of online friends, most of which a person would never meet.
