This week’s lecture and readings focused on the performance of self through online social networking sites, and the presentation and connectivity of one’s online identity.
The ability to present ourselves via online Social Networks has brought with it a new multifaceted complexity to the already complex social order of displaying our connections. Donath and Boyd (2004. p78) state that by making one’s connections visible to all of the others, social networking sites remove the barries of privacy we may have between different facets of our lives.
This brings with it the concept of how we may act if our physical lives were completely transparent to the outside world, a construct becoming ever more obvious as our connections through online social networking become more integrated into everyday interaction and identity. In describing visibility on the online social stage, Pearson (2009) refers to the glass bedroom metaphor and how one’s social networking performance can be viewed as an active or silent audience, or interacted with through invitation into the room.
From this transparent stage, our identity is our performance, and we let the audience see what we want them to see. Hogan (2010) explains this online performance on the level of exhibitor and curator, as the content of one’s identity can be arranged and displayed to represent only our desired qualities.
References:
Donath, J. Boyd, D. 2004. Public displays of connection. BT Technology Journal 22. (4): 71-82. Accessed March 13, 2011. http://smg.media.mit.edu/papers/Donath/PublicDisplays.pdf
Hogan, B. 2010. The Presentation of Self in the Age of Social Media: Distinguishing Performances and Exhibitions Online. Bulletin of Science Technology Society, Vol 30 no.6. Accessed March 13, 2011. http://bst.sagepub.com/content/30/6/377
Pearson, E. 2009. All the World Wide Web’s a stage: The performance of identity in online social networks. First Monday Peer-reviewed Journal on the Internet 14. (3): 1. Accessed March 13, 2011. http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/viewArticle/2162/2127
