What Online Image Do You Portray When Using Impression Management?

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What Online Image Do You Portray When Using Impression Management?

             

 Abstract:

A picture is worth a thousand words and first impressions are often made today in cyberspace. Technology has helped society form a new dynamic perspective of today’s culture. The use of impression management has allowed online users to mold a particular identity. Social networking sites have evolved into a popularity contest and have allowed users to craft an improved e-version of their online identity that appeals to multiple audiences. With advancing technology it becomes more important to continue and improve impression management.

                                                                        

 Introduction:

            Impression management is a conscious or unconscious goal directed procedure, which allows individuals to mold an enhanced public perception of themselves through the use of online media forums. Because “first impressions are often made in cyberspace, not face-to-face, people are not only strategizing about how to virtually convey who they are, but also grappling with how to craft an e-version of themselves that appeals to multiple audiences — co-workers, fraternity brothers, Mom and Dad” (Rosenbloom, 2008). Therefore, impression management shapes our online behavior, culture, and tweaks our personal online appearances.

            In this day and age, where technology is the most used form of communication, a profile picture on a social networking site can be the most valuable tool for this generation when building new relationships. The objective of this analysis is to analyze Facebook and to explore how the site allows users to develop an aggrandized perception of one’s life. Facebook, a popular social networking site, has influenced online user’s to create a particular view of oneself to gain friendships, popularity, and power. Unconsciously, Facebook users are using online impression management tactics to gain approval from peers.  

Using impression management to form a better online identity

            One of the characterizations of electronic media is the ability to remove or create social boundaries between one’s public and private lives. Electronic media affects how individuals in society portray online images by using situational geography of online social life. Online communications transfigures into calculated encounters in which one attempts to sell a particular self-image (Ong’onda, Matu & Oketch, 2010, p.2). Because one’s identity is an important aspect when describing one’s personality, people tend to utilize different self-perceptions depending on whom they are trying to attract. Erving Goffman “argue[s] that each individual is an actor on the stage performing for the world” but “when one is ‘front stage’ he or she must play the desired part in front of an unfamiliar audience” (Gosnell, Britt & McKibben, 2011, p.2).  

            Social networking sites provide individuals the opportunity to form an enhanced version of oneself and thus an aggrandized perception of one’s desired public image. This illusion can be created from a profile picture, the amount of friends one has accumulated, and editing the online user’s social attractiveness (Zwier, Araujo, Boukes & Willemsen, 2011, p. 572). There is a certain degree of anonymity that allows these tactics to be exploited in social networking. Because one’s social profile can be highly controlled environments, it empowers the user to reframe their public perception providing complete power over how one portrays their online identity (Mehdizadeh, 2010, p.358). 

            Facebook, is the fourth most trafficked website in the United States. The average user has 130 friends and the photo sharing application is ranked #1 among its users (Humphreys).  Researchers have found that, “[a] Facebook profile displaying an excessively high friend count will strengthen perceptions that a profiler has a hoped-for self that is socially connected when compared to a Facebook profile displaying an average-range or lower friend count” (Zwier, Araujo, Boukes & Willemsen, 2011, p. 572). The profile picture is the main picture that friends and the public see when using the site, it allows one to shift and influence the way the public views that person’s image or status. “In essence, this image ‘stands in’ for the user’s body in this virtual environment” (Strano, 2008, p. 2). Therefore, it’s important when using impression management to convey the right online persona. Through personifying a glorified perception, the individual can artificially create social approval, friendships, and power.

             Using impression management on Facebook allows an individual to create whatever social perception they wish to publicly portray to the online world.  Facebook was developed as a way to connect college students together. However, today it has transformed into a worldwide social media forum that allows users to judge social status, appearance, and popularity. Facebook provides a gateway of communication creating a new world where we can be whoever we want and hide our offline identities bypassing humiliation.

Conclusion:

            Advancing technology makes it more important to analyze the public image one puts forth online. Impression management allows one to filter one’s online social perception and how it is publicly displayed. New online applications further allows one to regulate one’s online identify and create a warped societal understanding of one’s true self. Impression management is a conscious or unconscious decision that we make in order to look aggrandized in front of others. However, in reality we are creating an illusion to have approval from our peers.

Reference:

Rosenbloom, S. (2008, January 03). Putting your best cyberface forward. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/03/fashion/03impression.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&pagewanted=print&adxnnlx=1352124157-duap3fPxNdcnmhRmjBysCQ

Ong'onda, N., Matu, P., & Oketch, O. (2010). Kenyan electronic communication: Implication of text messaging on social interaction. US-China Foreign Language, 8(9), 1-13.

Gosnell, C. L., Britt, T. W., & Mckibben, E. S. (2011). Self-presentation in Everyday Life: Effort, Closeness, and Satisfaction. Self & Identity, 10(1), 18-31. doi:10.1080/1529886090342956

Zwier, S., Araujo, T., Boukes, M., & Willemsen, L. (2011). Boundaries to the Articulation of Possible Selves Through Social Networking Sites: The Case of Facebook Profilers' Social Connectedness. Cyberpsychology, Behavior & Social Networking, 14(10), 571-576. doi:10.1089/cyber.2010.0612

Mehdizadeh, S. (2010). Self-Presentation 2.0: Narcissism and Self-Esteem on Facebook. Cyberpsychology, Behavior & Social Networking, 13(4), 357-364. doi:10.1089/cyber.2009.0257

Humphreys, L. Social Media [Power point slides]. Retrieved from http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CDoQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alumni.cornell.edu%2Fvolunteer%2Fdocuments%2FSocialMedia.LeeHumphreys.pdf&ei=AqSWUKbdGpS88wTptYCYCA&usg=AFQjCNFGiqRDI6Jvu598Yiiv3o2f3O0FXA

Strano, M. M. (2008). User Descriptions and Interpretations of Self-Presentation through Facebook Profile Images. Cyberpsychology, 2(2), 1-11.