6.1 Interactive Communication Functions as Tools of Performing the
6.1.4 The function of comments and context collapse
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or the dome of mosques.
It is worth noting that the interviewees consider the Islamic headscarf (hijab) for women as a more significant clue of Muslim Identity than men’s clothes. 4 interviewees said that they believe people can tell that they are Muslims by seeing their profile photos, 3 of them are men. In their profile photos, all of these men were not wearing Islamic clothes and one of them even was absent in the photo. They still believed that people recognize their religion by their wives’ or children’s Islamic clothes. While clothing and dress styles are usually considered the most common symbols used to perform personal identity (Leoung, 2013), the interviewees highly depended on women’s clothes to perform their identity through photos.
6.1.4 The function of comments and context collapse
Apart from the aforementioned functions, some of the interviewees indicated that the interaction between them and their Muslim friends by commenting on Facebook posts might be viewed as clues of identity as well. For example, they would greet each other in Arabic (or Arabic spelled in English) on special holidays or festivals by commenting on each other’s posts. The interviewees believe that the small details can also make Non-Muslim audiences aware of their Muslim identity and furthermore showcase their religious customs.
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Non-Muslim audiences usually would not have the chance to observe the details of interaction and languages in off-line life unless they happen to be in the same spot.
However, in the semi-public environment of Facebook, these details are posted, viewed and would remain on the page as long as the user wants. While the scenes of performance on Facebook are no longer confined to specific social occasions and could be observed by more than one group of audience, the phenomenon, described as context collapse by previous studies, has had significant impact on users’ impression management strategies especially in the cross-cultural environment in which my interviewees live. As the interviewees believe that the interaction among Muslim friends on Facebook may become a part of self-identity performance, the blurring of stages in front of Muslim and non-Muslim audiences may cause unwanted effects for their impression management as well. Thus, the interviewees have developed strategies with Facebook privacy functions in response to the collapsing stages and intend to manage the confines of stages as much as they can.
On the other side, the interaction functions among users also give the interviewees more chance to observe their audiences’ reactions to their performance. In the dramaturgical approach, a performer observes the audiences’ and the team’s reaction to decide whether s/he needs to adjust his/her performance or to take more effective practices to manage the confines of stages. Yet in the process of computer-mediated communication it is almost impossible for observation without face-to-faced interaction. However, Facebook provides various social functions such as “like”,
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commenting and sending messages through which we can deduce the audiences’
reactions to their posts or their Muslim friends’ posts; the interviewees can tell that who are interested in what kind of contents, or who may find that their posts are unpleasing. Therefore the context collapse also allows the interactions on Facebook to become not only part of performances but clues for performers to improve their performances along with their skills of impression management.
For instance, many of the interviewees reported that one of the concerns they have in mind when about to post something about Muslim is whether the contents are controversial to non-Muslim audiences. They tend to observe other Muslims’ and non-Muslims’ discussion about Islamic topics to decide what kind of contents are controversial. While there are few interviewees who believe that it is meaningful for Muslims to exchange opinions and even argue with the non-Muslim society about the stereotypes against Muslims, most of the interviewees still said they tend to avoid posting controversial contents in case of provoking arguments between themselves and their audiences in the commenting area. For the interviewees, not only presentation of Muslims’ “bad behaviors” but the arguments on commenting area below their posts would also harm the images of Muslims. Intriguingly, most of them have never faced direct and strong disagreement from audiences because of their own posts about Islam and Muslim. Many of the interviewees reported that they have seen other Muslim users argue with non-Muslims through comments, both on their friends’
timelines and on public pages. By observing their team members’ experiences through
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comments, they learn to avoid posting similar contents that may bring controversy and cause damage to Muslim image. They also develop more measures for managing the confines of stages as strategies of impression management. As Kareem said:
“I have seen people arguing [about Islam or Muslim issues] on some [Facebook] pages. Sometimes when people are diametrically opposed to each other they make irrational verbal attacks …… I don’t want to post any articles that may cause these very negative situations.”