2.2 Theoretical Background: Dramaturgical Approach…
2.2.3 Impression Management and the Functions of Social Network
國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
come from others on a continuous basis. Especially in the case of gender, the norms and values of how girls should appear are acutely perceived and rapidly adopted by girls when it comes to the selection of photos uploaded. In other words, favorable images can only be produced or presented when individuals are conscious of what others are expecting from them.
Following this line of inquiry, this present research seeks to examine Taiwanese Muslims’ presentation of identity on SNSs. Considering the global context of thriving Islamphobia and the relatively low visibility of Taiwanese Muslims in Taiwan society, what would be their impression management strategy if self-presentation were anchored upon their social situations in real life?
2.2.3 Impression Management and the Functions of Social Network Sites
Previous studies that apply impression management to self-presentation on SNSs mainly refer to two aspects. The first aspect is the visible elements of self-presentation, including texts, images and so on (Siibak, 2009; Pearson, 2010). The second aspect focuses on the management of audiences and peoples’ access to performances (Aspling, 2011). In both aspects, technological architecture as tools has decisive roles in the form and strategies for managing performances (van Dijck, 2013). Users adjust their behavior to find the best way of performing on the architecture of SNSs and are
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
therefore able to derive benefits from participation (Vitak, 2012; Duguay, 2016). On the other hand, the users who have better understanding of SNSs’ architectures and functions are more likely to feel anxious because they realize how much damage the context collapse brought by SNSs can incur upon their images. They are also the ones that know how to remove or decrease the extent of collapse as quickly as possible because of their ability to manage the SNSs system (Litt et al, 2014).
According to Boyd & Ellison (2007), SNSs generally consist of similar functions, including a personal profile to display who you are, a list of connections (“friends”) that show user networks, and a mechanism that allows users to leave public messages and private messages. Despite the similarity of common functions above, SNSs vary greatly in their featured or targeted user base. Some SNSs are designed for certain social purposes; for example, LinkedIn is designed for professional self-promotion (van Dijck, 2013), while TripAdvisor features the sharing of traveling experiences as part of its core services (Amaral et al, 2014). Some SNSs can be distinguished by the forms of media in which they are manifested; for example, Instagram is particularly designed for photo-sharing while Vine is for self-made short videos. Facebook and Twitter, on the other hand, have been described as masspersonal media that combines all sorts of broadcast media and interpersonal communication (Marwick& Boyd, 2011;
Buehler, 2014).
The details of identity performance are products of the affordance of different
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
technological functions on each SNS. Individuals are able to select what personal details, profile photos and status updates they upload onto SNSs. Through these elements, individuals construct their self-image in front of their friends either consciously or unconsciously. Users adjust their behavior to find the best way of performing on the architecture of SNSs and are therefore able to derive benefits from participation (Tufekci, 2008). Sharing information and knowledge on SNSs can be considered both ideal behavior from the cultural aspect (Din& Haronb, 2012), and a vague way to suggest the possible disclosure of LGBTQ identity (Duguay, 2016).
While the term “self-presentation” is often assumed to be the process carried out by individuals to control other peoples’ impressions of them, other users collectively participate in the identity performance by contributing photos, comments, likes, and tags as well. Other users’ posts help form the self-presentation of individuals and at times exert greater influences than one’s own posts (Litt et al, 2014). This highlights the importance of controlling the audience and access to the performance through the same architecture of SNSs that leads to context collapse, which is the other primary aspect of studies on impression management on SNSs.
In his study examining self-presentation on Facebook through the dramaturgical approach, Elder-Jubelin (2009) suggested that researchers need to focus on concepts of context collapse by paying attention to three areas that all influence the performance of individuals: self-presentation on Facebook; analysis of audiences and relationships on Facebook; and the technological structure of Facebook as a
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
conceptual space. While the first two areas can be seen as the performance itself and the interaction between performer and audience, the third area echoes other research claiming that the affordance of SNSs architecture is a distinctly important factor of impression management. Boyd (2012) has indicated that while early Facebook users were comfortable using their real names, nowadays users are no longer willing to disclose their real name easily because they are afraid that others are able to obtain their personal information by inputting their real names into search engines.
Meanwhile, users using nicknames or pseudonyms are also decreasing other users’
ability to control their social contexts (Boyd, 2012; Shafie et al, 2012). Fox and Warber (2015) indicated that LGBTQ users apply Facebook’s affordance to reshape context. For example, they decide who can access their content by adjusting their strategies for friending, unfriending and blocking users. These functions allow users to have more control over the constitution of their audience. Duguay (2016) indicated that her LGBTQ participants strategically segregated audiences to avoid context collapsing and reconstructed contexts by making friend lists and choosing to present their sexual identity performance only to friends that they have disclosed their identity to. They have also made the best of different technological features on SNSs for establishing boundaries of context. For example, they may register an account on Twitter using real names to follow LGBTQ-themed accounts. By completely leaving the context of Facebook, they segregate audiences across different SNSs. Mishra and Surhita (2014) found that young Indian Muslim women make strategic choices to present themselves in accordance with gendered expectations in their cultural and
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
religious norms on SNSs while simultaneously creating secret spaces for personal expression by segregating audiences with the privacy settings offered by SNSs.
However, it should be duly remarked that users are easily frustrated by the labyrinth of privacy settings on SNSs. Previous researchers have found that using privacy settings to segregate audience requires users greater investment in terms of both time and knowledge. When faced with the task to apply such skills, users tend to choose to only post content that they feel comfortable sharing with all of their audiences.
(Hogan, 2010;Vitak, 2012; Duguay,2016).
Based on Goffman’s framework, Hogan (2010) argued that the world in social media is not merely a stage but also a participatory exhibit. Individuals upload data (artifacts, named by Hogan) to show themselves to each other. Instant interaction with people is no longer the main activity on SNS, one that enables online participants to react to others’ data without being present in time. As individuals still have almost full decision over what to present, the metaphor of online exhibition is used to describe this form of self-presentation; in other words, presentation strategies are still required to achieve impression management. As Jarvandi (2014) suggested, profile photos that are open to everyone constitutes the most challenging decision for many Facebook users, especially females. While Muslim men are less restricted in their presentation, most females tried to choose profile photos that satisfy religious requirements. Yet when it comes to share photos in “albums,” for which privacy settings can be adjusted,
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
the attention to religious and social norms decreases because only friends included in their friend lists have access to the images.
Therefore, to understand the identity performance of Taiwanese Muslims, it is necessary to examine how they apply the architecture of SNS to perform their self-presentation and, if any, their collective identities in everyday context. What kind of functions provided by SNS are they using to avoid context collapse in order to achieve their impression management?
‧
國立 政 治 大 學