Are All Identities Presented Online Real? Identifying Managed Identities within Virtual Online Communities
Jack Walton
Curtin University
ABSTRACT:
This paper explores several published articles that argue how one’s identity has been formed online and how it is represented within virtual communities. Hodkinson (2015) goes into depth about how young millennials express their personal identities (of which sexting is a component) online and contribute to some of the consequences that can go with it. This then leads to the question, are all identities expressed in online communities necessarily real? This paper will use these references to back up the point that online social media platforms and communities can lead to a world of managed identities or identities that cannot always be represented in the physical world.
Introduction
Throughout modern society, virtual online communities have become dominant in many peoples (particularly millennials) lives. “Virtual communities and social network sites are becoming ubiquitous among those who communicate via the internet” (Porter, 2015, p.161). Many people form their identities within these virtual communities and these can be either real, completely fake or somewhere in between. This paper will argue that whilst the virtual world gives you the freedom to explore your identity, it can lead to a world of managed identities or an identity that cannot be fully expressed in the real world. It will argue that millennials are focusing on virtual online communities to gain popularity within their circle of friends and peers in their real lives; life is generally full of both positivity and negativity, however, most of the time, young millennials only post the positive aspects of their life on social media. This paper will examine some of the major consequences that can come from this anomaly. It will also examine the different types of virtual communities that can enable users to construct an identity of their choice.
Keywords: millennials, identity, communities, virtual
Discussion
“Online community is composed of members sharing common interests” (Zhou, 2011, p.3). Ever since Web 2.0 was formed, millennials in particular have been relying on virtual social media communities to prove their personal identities to their peers. “Participation in online cultures of sharing and interaction via social media is becoming increasingly … compulsory among groups of young people” (Robards, 2014 in Hodkinson, 2015 p.2). Donath (1999, p.N/A) makes it clear that in reality, there is an inherent unity to the self, the human body is something that is strongly connected to our personal identities. Once users have signed up to a social media platform, they begin constructing an online identity, which can be real, something in between or completely false. Boyd (2007, p.13) makes it clear that the common-sense approach to an online identity is to express the most noticeable or important aspects of identity and to leave others to interpret. This generally means that only the positive aspects of our personal identities will be expressed online. Whilst we do this in real life to some extent, the difference with online communities is the extent to which these profiles can be “managed” often as the user is often exaggerating/boasting about how optimistic their life is, when in fact the reality of life is that it is full of ups and downs.
In general, one must constantly update one’s profile or statuses within the social media platform if one wants to maintain a positive image to one’s peers. Forman, Kern and Gil-Egui (2012) make it clear that individual identities are part of the formation of an online community; hence bringing people who share similar interests together. These communities can be further expanded with more members joining. Within an online community, “Identification requires individual members to maintain an active relationship with other community members” (Zhou, 2011, p.8). This means that one must make an effort to keep up to date with what is going on in the community and they have to understand “group goals, values and conventions when they join a community” (Zhou 2011, p.8). Hence, there is peer pressure to comment on or update members of the community. This pressure can sometimes lead to the building up of a contrived image.
Numerous studies have explored the relationships between millennials and the digital world as well as the impact it has had on them. Hodkinson (2015) raises the analogy of the “virtual teenage bedroom” and argues how social network communities have influenced (or deceived) their identities. “Social network sites retain intimacy and the individual-centred format continues to facilitate the exhibition and mapping of identities” (Hodkinson, 2015, p.1). In today’s generation, many millenials feel the need to express a different (managed) identity on social media platforms (most notably Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat) to make themselves fit in to their peer communities and to gain likes. This is further backed up by O’Keefe and Clarke-Pearson (2011) who go into depth about the reasons and risks behind teenagers’ virtual identities. “Because of their limited capacity for self-regulation and susceptibility to peer pressure, children and adolescents are at some risk as they navigate and experiment with social media” (O’Keefe and Clarke-Pearson, 2011, p.800). Physical communities such as school, sport clubs or other extra-curricular activities can influence these different identities online. For example, a young millennial Facebook user may constantly add photos of positive events that happen in their life (such as outings or travels) to gain likes. This results in making their life look like it is perfect all the time. Posting negative status’ will not gain them any attention from their peers because the key communication tool is the “like” button.
As likes seem to be very important (and competitive) to some adolescents during their high school days, creating overly positive identity representations online is a way for them to gain more likes and followers. This has led to major issues since the 2010’s era, including cyber-bullying or, worse, suicide in teenagers. This is further backed up by Gross (2017) who goes into depth about the issue of sexting and cyber bullying and the major effects it has had on millennials. According to Gross (2017), likes are so important to the point that some girls feel the need to post explicit pictures of themselves online to gain “popularity” approval from their peers. Even though Gross’s article focuses on young females posting these images, boys are just as guilty too. Based on this research at least initially young millennials inadvertently create this “superior” image of themselves, which, in many cases, because of the competitive nature of a peer group can result in peers ending up being envious of them.
The competiveness within school and communities can have a large impact on teenagers and how they choose to present their identities often ultimately resulting in sexting. Mascheroni, Vincent and Jiminez (2015) discusses this false idea of identity and how “constructing an autonomous identity is a fundamental task for adolescents and pre-adolescents.” Mascheroni, Vincent and Jiminez (2015) makes it clear that in young girls particularly, exposing the human body is seen as a way to attract “likes” and “followers” on social media platforms. “Girls post pictures consistent with conformist beauty standards to avoid being marginalised” (Mascheroni, Vincent and Jiminez, 2015, p.N/A). This suggests that many young girls are feeling insecure about their social lives and they feel that gaining a certain number of likes will help them “fit in” with their peers in their middle/high school community. Selfies are also seen as a major form of visual communication between young teens. To gain more Facebook “likes” from their classmates, a school student may have docked a profile picture (make themselves look skinnier, more attractive etc.). In the minds of these young adolescents “the number of likes they receive on their profiles is understood as an indicator of their inclusion in the peer group” (Mascheroni, Vincent and Jiminez, 2015, p.N/A). They have “incorporated selfies in the process of exploring their identity and as a means of “presentation, representation and embodiment” (Mascheroni, Vincent and Jiminez, 2015, p.N/A). Mascheroni, Vincent and Jiminez (2015) also make it clear that whilst they may gain many likes from this false identity, it raises the question about cyber bullying and how this can have a major effect on these young millennials lives. “While cyber sexual bullying is called many names: sexting, online sexual bullying, or generally cyber bullying, they all refer to the same activity –sending nude or semi-nude photographs through the internet (Gross, 2017, p.557). It also reinforces a loss of identity within the young person as they are feeling the need to change themselves to gain attention from peers online. Furthermore, virtual communities (in this instance, social media communities such as Facebook and Instagram) can tie in with real life communities (schools and sporting clubs). For example, bullying may initiate online where identities can be hidden but read by real friends from school. This bullying can then extend in to the playground in real life. Likewise, bullying at school can be extended to online bullying.
Within online dating communities, another example of changing identities is where people can customise their own profiles as well as doctor their own images to get attention from other people all over the world. Gibbs (2010) refers to this as warranting. “Warranting refers to the capacity to draw a reliable connection between a presented persona online and a corporeally-anchored person in the physical world (Walther, 2009, p.232 in Gibbs, 2010, p.74). Online dating can also consist of both real and fake profiles. According to Norcie and De Cristofaro (2013, p.N/A), “a user could set up a fake social network profile, link it to her [or his] ODS profile and “Certifeye” it.” This means one can create a false profile, pretending to be someone else and it can seem legitimate. Rege (2009) explores the idea of fake online identities and how people scam others around the world. “Romance scams are international in scope and no centralised database tracking victims and their losses are currently available” (King and Thomas, 2009 in Rege 2009, p.495). Even though this paper was written in 2009, tracing devices are still not available. Such scams are, however, understood to be significant in leading to many disturbing consequences for the victims. Online dating can be seen as a sub-category of sexting. When a user gets more and more comfortable with somebody they have met online, they may feel the need to send explicit images of themselves to their new found virtual partner (even if they are not fully aware if the relationship is real or not).
One major consequence from online dating, managed identities and sexting is mental health issues such as depression and anxiety which can further lead to tragic events such as suicide. Wensley and Campbell (2012, p.650) make it clear that cyber bullying can come in many different forms such as “sending nasty e-mails or text messages, creating insulting websites dedicated to an individual, or posting hurtful or embarrassing pictures online.” All of these forms of cyber bullying can have a significant impact on one’s mental health leading to tragedy. A more significant suicide was the death of an American girl Jessica Logan in 2008. According to No Bullying (2017), Logan sent a nude photo of herself to her boyfriend. However, the image was sent to many teenagers in several different high schools in the Cincinnati area (once the couple broke up). The cyber bullying continued through several different social media platforms which caused Logan to take her life. According to No Bullying (2017), another major suicide that sparked social media in 2012 was the death of British Columbian Amanda Todd. An image of Todd’s breasts exposed went viral on several different social media platforms causing her to be bullied from classmates, hence she had to move schools several times. Months later however, she took her own life. Mental health issues have been a major concern for millennials (and in some cases older generations) over cyber bullying and online harassment and there have been many attempts between governments to stop this. However, to date, they have not been successful.
Conclusion
This paper has discussed how our virtual identity is constructed influenced by the online community. It demonstrates how initially our identity is influenced by a desire for likes. This leads to an overly positive identity that can not be lived up to in real life. This can lead to a sense of a lack of fulfilment in oneself as well as in jealousy of peers. The pressure to stay connected to these online communities can also have a negative impact of one’s self esteem. The competitive nature of these communities can lead to sexting and bullying which can transfer into the real world especially in confined environments such as schools. Bullying and sexting can be devastating and can lead to depression and even suicide.
References
Donath, J. (1999) ‘Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community’, London: Routledge. Retrieved from: http://smg.media.mit.edu/people/Judith/Identity/IdentityDeception.html
Forman, A. E. Kern, R. and Gil-Egui, G. (2012). Death and mourning as sources of community participation in online social networks: R.I.P pages in Facebook. First Monday 17(9), http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3935/3288
Gibbs, J., Ellison, N.B. and Lai, C. ‘First Comes Love, Then Comes Google: An Investigation of Uncertainty Reduction Stratagies and Self-Disclosure in Online Dating.’ https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650210377091
Gross, M. (2017). Cyber sexual bullying,“sexting” in schools, and the growing need to educate the youth. The University of the Pacific Law Review, 48(3), 555-574. Retrieved from: http://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uoplawreview/vol48/iss3/11
Hodkinson, P. (2015) ‘Bedrooms and Beyond: Youth, Identity and Privacy on Social Network Sites’, New Media and Society, online before print, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444815605454
Mascheroni, G. Vincent, J. and Jiminez, E. (2015). “Girls are addicted to likes so they post semi-nakend selfies”: Peer mediation, normativity and the construction of identity online. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.5817/CP2015-1-5
No Bullying (2017). “Jessica Logan – The Rest of the Story”. Retrieved from: http://nobullying.com/jessica-logan/
No Bullying (2017). “The Unforgettable Amanda Todd story”. Retrieved from: https://nobullying.com/amanda-todd-story/
Norcie, G., De Cristofaro, E., & Bellotti, V. (2013, April). Bootstrapping trust in online dating: Social verification of online dating profiles. In International Conference on Financial Cryptography and Data Security (pp. 149-163). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. Retrieved from: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1303.4155.pdf
O’Keefe, G. and Clarke-Pearson, K. (2011) ‘Clinical Report – The Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents, and Families. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2011-0054
Porter, C. E. (2015). Virtual communities and social networks. In L. Cantoni and J. A. Danowski, (eds). Communication and Technology. Berlin: De Gruyter. pp. 161 – 179
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Zhou, T. (2011). Understanding online community user participation: a social influence perspective. Internet research, 21(1), 67-81. https://doi.org/10.1108/10662241111104884
Hi Jack, I am interested in your discussion of young people and the pressure they feel to “manage” their online identity to gain approval from their peers. Do you think some of these problems can be avoided by using a pseudonym? In researching my paper, ‘Identity, Pseudonymity, and Social Media Networks’, I found that teenagers use pseudonyms to experiment with their identity online, which is known as “identity play” (Baym, 2011, p. 387). By protecting their offline identity with a pseudonym, teenagers feel more confident about expressing themselves and communicating with others on online social networks, without having to fear any negative social consequences in their offline communities. On the other hand, after reading your paper, I think that while pseudonymity might allow teenagers to find socially supportive online communities where they can just be themselves, it may prevent them from joining the extended online version of their offline community, that is, from joining their offline friends online. So, using a pseudonym might not be an attractive option in some cases. What do you think?
References
Baym, N., K. (2011). Social networks 2.0. In The handbook of internet studies (pp. 384–405). Wiley. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/doi/pdf/10.1002/9781444314861.ch18
I’m surprised there aren’t more comments on this paper Jack — we all have identities that we manage so it’s very relatable! You’ve made me think about the continuation of identities we have online/offline. Identity is constructed offline just as much as it is online but Web 2.0 has given us the opportunity to continue building and shaping an online identity, offline.
I really enjoyed reading your paper Jack, great work!
It evidently is captivating how the rise of web 2.0 technologies have encouraged the millennial generation (in particular) to feel the need to adhere to others and impress online. It certainly is something I believe I have witnessed online countless times with everyone wishing to present the best version of themselves and manage their identity the best they can.
I found your analysis of identity to be very interesting as it intertwined with some of the topics and ideas I brought up in my own paper (focusing on deceptive behavior and misconstrued identities online), so was very impressive to see the angle you took focusing more on cyberbullying and sexting.
I definitely believe this is a relevant topic to today’s day and age and in particular, I found your focus on “likes and approval” to be insanely relatable. The memories from my high-school career of hearing the students murmuring about ‘how many likes’ they got on their photos is an aspect of school I will never forget. It seems so minuscule now that so many people cared about something as trivial as that. Especially considering the dire consequences this obsession has clearly had on so many people.
Again, very insightful paper, Jack!
Charis
Hi Charis,
Thanks for your comment!
When I read your paper too, I found several crossovers too which was good to see. It seems to be so easy to create a different identity (pseudonym) in today’s society which can turn out to have some major consequences like Manti Te’o did (discussed in your paper). Regarding likes, high school days do seem to be the period where this is very important. In fact, I remember there being a “200 group” on Facebook within a few of the schools in my area where you had to have at least 200 likes on your profile picture to be part of it. This can make people who don’t reach this amount of likes sad. Especially if they had people they thought were their friends in this group, it can make them feel excluded and betrayed by their friends. Likes can really come in the way of friendships as they can get very competitive with one another and they can end up hating each other for it. At the end of the day however, the amount of likes you get is not that important but many young people in Generation Y (as well as some millennials) in particular don’t seem to think this whilst they are in school. Do you believe likes can do some harm to friendships?
Thanks again for your comment Charis, the idea of likes in high school is such a significant point!
Jack
Hello again, Jack,
That was certainly very fascinating to learn! I had no idea about a “200 group” when I was in school, but knowing some of the people in my year group who were fairly obsessive over likes and social status, I would not have been surprised to know if they were members.
I myself, believe likes can harm friendships to a degree, certainly due to the fact that it is quite common for competitive rivalry to exist between some friendship groups, and the goal to reach a certain amount of likes is very apparent for some. I actually have a very vivid memory in year 9 or something ridiculous when a girl came into class and announced she had hit 200 likes on a profile picture. The girls were all swooning over, but you could tell a few of them were very jealous of her “social achievements”, and this definitely would cause some friction in friendship groups.
For me, personally, I have not experienced harm within my own friendship circles in regards to likes and social status as we are all fairly content and happy to just post what we want to post, when we want to post it and be supportive of one another despite the amount of likes received. It’s kind of a crazy concept to me that some individuals can get so wrapped up in the social realm that it can cause friction within physical realm! What are your thoughts?
Cheers,
Charis
Hey Jack,
I loved reading your paper, it was very easy to read and gauge with your ideas and concepts concerning online identity so well done.
We both used Hodkinson as a reference throughout our paper, and it was interesting how you focused on sexting as a component to online identity, whereas I didn’t dive into that aspect. With Hodkinson text, I found there to be a strong link between the complexities and privacy of both a young person’s bedroom and that of their online identity. There is said to be a relationship between the spatial analogy of a teenage bedroom to that of the intimacies and privacy of one’s identity online. It is as if the internet has become the modern example of a teenagers bedroom. Would you agree with Hodkinson’s points? I would love to hear your thoughts on this.
In terms of your paper, I liked how you were posing several questions regarding identity online, this immediately made me think about your questions and how they may be answered throughout. Both in your abstract and introduction you reaffirmed what your argument was going to be, giving me a firm indication of your perspective and the tone of your paper which I liked very much. This made it completely clear and left no confusion as to what your paper was going to be about.
I’ve found that we have both used a lot of the same references throughout, but yet both our papers exhibit different perspectives, this is something which fascinates me as it is showing that we’ve interpreted the academic texts differently to suit our own themes. Your Donath and boyd references reinforce your ideas of online identity well throughout your paper so well done. I like your point regarding how people can be boasting about how optimistic their lives are online, when in reality it isn’t necessarily the case. I think that’s important for any user to understand when constructing their online identities as well as looking as others too.
Your point regarding young millennial Facebook users posting positive photos/status to gain likes, is true to some degree. When you mentioned that they would gain the same sort of attention if they were to post a negative photo/status, I would have to disagree with that. Nowadays, it can almost be the opposite to what your saying. There is a need to fight for attention and be in the limelight on social media, that posting something completely outrageous and controversial will garner more attention then a happy photo of someone enjoying themselves at the beach. Any sort of post that will add shock value to the public sphere of the internet is more powerful in today’s context then a traditionally ‘happy’ picture. What do you think?
I enjoyed reading your segment on online dating and sexting, and tying that into the threat of anxiety and depressing from users. The construction of an online identity holds no prejudices to which platform you choose to show it on, and online profiles are a great way to construct your desired image. The same concerns regarding cyber-bullying and deception can still be prominent across these platforms and users experience the same type of pressure to construct themselves in a certain way as they would across other social networking sites such as Facebook and Instagram.
I thoroughly enjoyed your paper, as it had a familiar tone as mine which made it very easy to read and interpret. You touched upon important issues regarding sexting and the mentally health implications of online identity which I thought was great. I would love to hear your thoughts on my feedback and I hope we can continue this discussion.
Good job!
Hi Elli,
Thanks so much for your comment!
With Hodkinson’s text I completely agree with you! I guess one of the main points of my paper was focusing on the idea of sexting and how it can affect a young millennial and their mental health. I tried to tie both Hodkinson’s text along with Mascheroni, Vinvent and Jiminez’s texts (which focused primarily on sexting within school communities). I found it very interesting on how Hodkinson contrasts the analogy of the teenage bedroom to an online space. Like you said, it is like the teenage bedroom has all of a sudden become a virtual space as many teenagers take part in social media platforms within their bedrooms.
You’ve made me think a bit more now regarding my point on how young people post only positive images to gain likes. I’m starting to think that it is a mixture of positivity and negativity regarding this. I’ve seen some posts in the past that are negative but they are more legitimate (i.e. informing their friends and family about something) and not actually seeking for likes, compared to some others that are just overly dramatic and not really that important (which are to gain likes). Previously, I didn’t really think of the more dramatic posts as a reason for likes but I now think this is a good example of gaining likes. I do believe however it is still a mixture of both positive and negative posts to gain likes. What do you think?
You’ve made some good points!
Jack
Hi Jack,
I enjoyed reading this paper. I am so pleased you discussed in your paper bullying. It really highlighted that for all the positive things social media platforms have brought, there can be many negatives. Has social media increase our anxiety so much we have lost our sense of what really matters? Popularity over a close circle of friends? Your point right at the start when you said that “millennials are focusing on virtual online communities to gain popularity within their circle of friends and peers in their real lives” is a very interesting point to make. Do you think young people have forgotten how to build strong friendships online, or have they just had limited exposure as to how to do it offline? I’m in my mid 30s and the closest thing I had to the social media platforms of today growing up was hotmail messenger? That wasn’t that long ago but just shows how fast technology has developed. Today, all kids have smart phones. I read in the news last week how people in the millennials age bracket are harder to motive when it comes to exercise. Could this be directly related to young people focusing too much on growing their connections through online platforms, rather than through the local footy club? Are we becoming a bunch of couch potatoes?
Julian
Hey Jack! It’s interesting that how you brought up the negative side of SNS and make me aware of how communities could be form through negative side of it! I can relate how you said YouTube is one of the platforms for the cyber bully! This give people a chance to bully other anonymously. The anonymous characteristic of online world make people have courage to do what they can’t do normally. People also create their identity in these virtual communities to find confidant or seeking popularity and doing bad thing without letting people know who they are so that they can still be a ‘good’ people in ‘real’ world.
Hey Jack,
really interesting read, I love that you chose to focus on the negative sides of social media and how the pressure to have a perfect online identity can cause issues within a young person. I know when I was in high school, and even now if I’m honest, the prospect of posting something and not getting any likes scares me. Many of my close friends struggle(d) with real anxiety about not getting likes when posting, and I saw first hand how this can affect other’s to a worrying degree.
One thing I’d like to pick at, is when you said creating false identities “reinforces a loss of identity within the young person as they are feeling the need to change themselves to gain attention from peers online”. Are we talking about a ‘false’ identity as one that is doctored to look perfect and positive, or one where a person takes on a completely new identity? In my paper I discuss how utilising ‘fake’ identities can actually help young people learn about how they want to be perceived and grow because of this, what is your stance on using a ‘fake’ profile in this instance? In the LGBT+ community, often people will have multiple accounts, one for their more outgoing or outrageous ‘drag personality’ and one that is a more toned down version of themselves. How do you think this might differ from what you’ve said about identity experimentation?