Representing “The Self” Online

Abstract

The above excerpt illustrates how a 20-year-old user describes his own portrayal of “self” on the social networking service Twitter. Two key issues arise from these three sentences. Firstly, there is his construction of an online identity and how it differs from that which has been constructed offline. Secondly, there is the nature of his engagement with the Twitter community and how he perceives such use. In terms of identity, the “self” that is exhibited online is, in his own words, “exaggerated” and “impression-managed”. It is not a caricature but an enhanced or perhaps more idealized representation of who he believes himself to be. In terms of engagement, Twitter serves two purposes. It is an immediate release from the frustrations that the user encounters offline and online. It is also a forum in which he can question and explore his own view of the world and the ideas and issues that he encounters. In an earlier chapter, we saw that one player of Runescape described how the online game environment she created was “like my life but more, and better” (Crowe, 2009, p. 221). Twitter and Runescape, although very different online environments, both offer the opportunity for users or players to establish identities or build avatars that, while having some resemblance to their own view of their offline selves, are devoid of some of the insecurities or self-perceived imperfections that they or others recognize.

I’d describe it as an exaggerated form of my real life personality I guess. I use it mainly to vent frustration using humour or to exercise certain aspects of my critical thinking. It’s difficult to describe. I tend to think of it as my more impression-managed identity certainly.